Behind the Mask
by Mikauzoran
Summary: CONTINUING LUNA DARKSIDE'S FIC. Shinichi's back, but the Organization is still out there, so, to escape detection, he seeks out an old family friend to learn the art of disguise. In the process of teaching Shinichi how to put on a mask, Kaito finds his own crumbling as Shinichi peels away layer after layer. Will Kaito let Shinichi in or shut him out?
1. The Meeting

Mikau: Hello everyone! Welcome and thank you so much for joining me! This fic was originally Luna Darkside's. She did the first chapter in response to a request/prompt by iluvstorys, so the story concept in general is iluvstorys's, and this first chapter is Luna's. Anyone confused yet? Luna wasn't going to continue, hence I've adopted the fic, so chapter two and onwards will be all me. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: In case you were wondering, I'm not Aoyama Gosho-sensei. Surprise, surprise. I'm also not Luna Darkside. Luna Darkside is also not Aoyama Gosho-sensei. So. What does that make us? A bunch of people who don't own anything. Except Aoyama-sensei. But that's okay because the rest of us don't have to come up with clever ways to murder people, new character designs, motives, and believable tricks with deadlines breathing down our necks. Fair trade, if you asked me.

…

Chapter One: The Meeting

The only thing worse than returning and finding his life in shambles was that Shinichi couldn't exactly leave the house on a daily basis.

He ran a hand through his hair, staring at his reflection—the ten-years-older version, thankfully. He didn't look _that _distinctive, right? Maybe?

…Who was he kidding? With the way his face had been plastered at every street corner before his disappearance, Shinichi had barely been able to make it from the Professor's house back to his own after he'd taken the antidote. And that had been at three in the morning, wearing a scarf and sunglasses. That pedestrian was probably still rather confused as to whether she'd really _just _met a Kudo Shinichi lookalike.

"Shin-chan," called a voice from behind him, and Shinichi turned away from the bathroom mirror to find his mother standing in the doorway, watching him with eyebrows raised.

"Hey, Mom," Shinichi muttered.

"Going a bit crazy, aren't we?" Yukiko smiled knowingly. "Do you think it might've been better to take down that organization _before _taking the antidote so this didn't have to happen?"

"I guess, maybe. But Conan's body had too many restraints." Shinichi sighed heavily. "It's just sort of annoying that even though I have my body back, I can't even leave the house. And I heard from Takagi that they've run into a difficult case down at headquarters. They need someone to infiltrate a club that's been suspected of drug trafficking, but since the owner is a former police officer and knows all the police officers' faces, they're having difficulties. It's something I wish I could do, but with this face, I can't exactly help out."

"That's true," Yukiko hummed, offering a grin. She twirled a finger through the air, straightening her scarf. "Well, Yusaku and I are off to Paris now, so you might want to go to the Professor's tonight."

Shinichi cast a tortured look in her direction. "Why do you _have _to go to that reunion? You just got here, like, last night."

"I haven't seen any of my former costars in a long time, Shin-chan!" Yukiko squawked, waving a hand at him. "And I just wanted to see you before we went off!" She blew him a kiss, one that Shinichi leveled a blank glare at.

"Yukiko? Are you ready? Where are you?" Yusaku's voice floated from down the hall, and Yukiko jumped.

"I'm in the bathroom with Shin-chan, love!" she called, and winked at Shinichi.

Yusaku appeared in the doorway, settling an arm around his wife. "So, still having fun in the new body, Shinichi?" he asked, smiling.

Scowling, Shinichi leaned against the sink. "I _might _be, if I could actually leave the house. The people who shrank me are still out there, you know."

"Hm." Yusaku frowned, reaching up to rub his chin thoughtfully. A thought seemed to occur to him, and he grinned. "Why don't you have your mother teach you how to disguise?"

"Wh~at? But Yusaku, we were going to the conference!" Yukiko whined, turning a pleading look on her husband.

"Come now, Yukiko, our son needs you…" But the way Yusaku was blinking meant that he was a few seconds from crumbling, and Shinichi heaved an internal sigh.

"No, he doesn't! I'm sure he can wait until we get back! The conference is only for two weeks!"

"But two weeks…"

With a groan, Shinichi flapped a hand dismissively at them. "That's okay. I don't want to get in the way of your plans. You guys can go. Maybe Haibara will have some ideas." He blew out a breath.

"Aw, Shin-chan!" Yukiko rushed across the bathroom to hug him tightly, much to Shinichi's displeasure and "Hey, get off! Mom!"

"But still, I think it's something you might want to learn…" There was a calculating gleam to Yusaku's eyes as he studied Shinichi. "Oh, Yukiko?"

"Yes?" Yukiko glanced over from where she appeared to be trying to suffocate Shinichi with her shoulder.

"What about Touichi?"

Releasing Shinichi (who gasped for air dramatically and clutched at the sink), Yukiko thought about it. "He did teach me how to disguise…" An uneasy frown stole her face. "But Yusaku, you know he's…"

"Of course I know," Yusaku agreed with a soft sigh. "But he had a son, didn't he? Kaito-kun, wasn't it?"

"Right!" Yukiko clapped, her usual cheer restored instantaneously. Shinichi marveled at that. "Kai-chan! He's just like his father, really—he gave me a rose the first time we met and everything! I'm sure he's become a magician, following in his father's footsteps."

"Which means he might know how to do disguises, right?" Yusaku smiled at his son. "So maybe he can teach you how to disguise, Shinichi. I'm sure if you ask him, he'll say yes."

"Really?" Frowning, Shinichi paused to think about it. Well, he doubted he'd lose anything from trying, so maybe… "But we haven't been in contact with him for a long time, have we?"

"Not since you were in elementary school," Yusaku admitted with a shrug. "But what have we got to lose, anyway?"

"Nothing, really. Although if he lets it slip that he's seen Kudo Shinichi, that might be bad for him."

"Oh, I'm sure that if he's anything like his father, he'll be able to keep a secret."

There was definitely an underlying meaning to that, Shinichi decided, but his father's eyes and smug smirk told nothing.

Yukiko, who seemed to have realized something while her husband and son had been talking, giggled. She pranced back across the bathroom to nudge Yusaku with her elbow. "Hey, since, you know, Touichi-kun is gone, do you think Kai-chan is moonlighting as _that person _now?"

"Of course he is. Who else could it be?" Yusaku's smirk seemed to grow at the corners.

_Moonlighting_? Shinichi frowned. That was a rather strange choice of words, wasn't it? "Moonlighting as who?"

Eyes sparkling, Yukiko began, "As K –"

Yusaku calmly covered her mouth, ignoring her muffled protests. "It's nothing," he reassured his son, very unreassuringly. He glanced down at his watch. "We've got to go, or we'll miss our flight. But we'll send you Kaito-kun's contact information, and you can arrange some kind of meeting." He grinned, suspiciously excitedly, at Shinichi, fairly dragging his wife down the hall. "Bye, Shinichi!"

Something that sounded somewhat like "Bye, Shin-chan!" followed, and then the front door slammed shut.

Shinichi blinked and wondered what, exactly, had just happened.

Oh well, he thought as the phone in his pocket rang, and Shinichi pulled it out to find that his mother had already texted him Kuroba Kaito's contact information. He just needed to learn how to disguise, right?

…

Kaito stared at the man on his doorstep, suitably frozen in shock. Well.

When he'd gotten the texts from the unknown number asking to meet up with him, he'd expected either a psychotic stalker or a shy underclassman. (He doubted that Snake or any of his men would be kind enough to ask for permission before coming to his house to kill him.)

But seeing as he didn't really expect to have a stalker (after all, as Kuroba Kaito, he was just a random teenager), Kaito had agreed to meet up with the person. If it _was _a stalker, he had the police on speed dial, and he didn't really doubt that he could take them. And if it _was _a shy underclassman, well… he might have to turn her down, but it was better to do that than to lead her on, right?

So when he'd opened the door to Kudo Shinichi, he'd been… a little bit unprepared.

Kudo Shinichi himself seemed similarly unprepared. His lips parted. "_Kid_?"

And all Kaito could think was, _"I am so very, very screwed."_

…

"So your parents sent you to me?" Kaito squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to stem his growing headache.

He felt it was a reasonable reaction, considering that Kudo Shinichi, the original form of Tantei-kun and possibly his most formidable rival, was sitting in his living room. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt. With a cup of tea in front of him.

This situation couldn't get more surreal.

"Yes." Shinichi was still eyeing him as if Kaito were an otter balancing a beach ball on his nose and singing "Happy Birthday"—somewhat suspiciously and somewhat disbelievingly. "Apparently they knew your dad, and he taught my mom how to do disguises. Which is what I need you to do for me, actually."

"Let me get this straight." Kaito swallowed. "You need _me_ to teach _you _how to disguise yourself."

"Yes, actually." Shinichi blinked. "That is exactly what I need."

"You want _me_. To teach _you_."

"_Yes_."

"Me, a criminal. You, a detective."

Shinichi sighed exasperatedly. "For the last time, _yes,_ that's what I need."

Kaito felt his headache grow exponentially. "You _do _realize that I'm the Kaitou Kid. And you know my civilian identity."

"Yes." Shinichi ran a hand through his hair. "I do know that, yes. But I'm out of options right now, and I mean…" His face twisted as if he were being forced to say something terrible. "I do… sort of trust you, you know?"

"Oh." Kaito didn't quite know what to say to that, but his heart did decide to melt a little at the sincerity in Shinichi's voice. "I… see."

"So the sooner that I could learn how to disguise, the better. The people who shrank me are still at large, so I can't exactly parade around with this face." With a groan, Shinichi leaned back on the couch, letting his head fall.

"How did you get here?" Kaito frowned.

"Uh, with a scarf and sunglasses. And a lot of hair gel. Apparently the way my hair falls is kind of distinctive." Shinichi glanced at him. "So will you do it?"

"I will, sure," Kaito agreed with a shrug. What did he have to lose, really, if Shinichi didn't turn him in? "I mean, as much as you irritate me, I don't want you to _die_, after all."

"How touching."

"But won't getting from here back to Beika be hard?" Kaito asked. "I mean, I doubt I can teach you all the basics before you need to leave."

"I'll make do."

"Or…" Kaito bit his lip. "Or, I guess, you could just… stay here."

The look Shinichi shot him was undeniably surprised. "What?"

"We have a guest room and all. And it would be less dangerous, right?" Kaito plastered on a confident smirk. "Can't have you dying between lessons and all. It would only be until you mastered the disguises, so maybe just a week or so."

For some reason, that brought a smile to Shinichi's lips. "Okay," he agreed. "That sounds okay."


	2. Moving In

Mikau: Hello there and nice to meet you to those who are new to my work! With chapter two, I'll be taking over the writing. I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think, and thanks so much for taking the time to investigate it! (P.S: Those of you waiting for an HP update, it should be out next week. Also, I've got a new one-shot called Give Me Liberty or Give Me Bacon for those of you who haven't seen it yet. I think it's cute, but that's just me. I'll take your word on it, so let me know what you think if you have the time/desire.)

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I really, really would have pushed to keep Hakuba's voice actor the same for the new Magic Kaito anime. I really loved him, but, of course, I don't know what the circumstances are and why he's not coming back for the new anime, but I am excited for the new guy, Miyano Mamoru. He's done a lot of good work in the past, so this might be a good fit after all. I'm just kind of hoping that he does a really similar voice.

…

Chapter Two: Moving In

"Only bring what you need. You're not moving in with me permanently," Kaito laughed when he saw the large suitcases that Shinichi was lugging out into the hall.

Kaito had slapped a quick disguise on the sleuth, and they'd headed back to Beika together to collect things like toiletries and clothes that Shinichi would need for his brief stay at the Kuroba abode. Kaito had expected a small duffle packed with a toothbrush, shampoo, some deodorant, and maybe three changes of clothes, but...two extra-large suitcases was a little...

Shinichi blinked and stared at him blankly. "Yeah. I've got all the essentials."

Now it was Kaito's turn to blink. "Did you remember to pack your winter parka in case an ice age sets in in the middle of June? How about a defibrillator? Never can tell when you're gonna need one of those. Geez, Kudo. What are you, a girl? What do you even have in those things?"

Shinichi bit his lip, trying not to get snarky lest Kid decide that teaching him disguise wasn't worth the trouble. "Books."

Kaito frowned and repeated, "Books?"

Shinichi shuffled his feet uncomfortably and muttered, "I mean, it's not like we're going to be spending the entire week, twenty-four-seven, teaching me disguise, and I don't expect you to babysit me, so...I'm bringing enough books to occupy me in my downtime."

Kaito pursed his lips and then let it go with a pop. "Okay. Books. I do have a TV and a computer, though, you know, and you're free to use them. Plus, it's not like you'll be trapped inside the whole time. I can always just throw a new face on you if you ever want to go out before you're able to adequately disguise yourself, kind of like what we did today."

"Oh." Shinichi shifted awkwardly. "Thank you."

"So..." Kaito gave the massive luggage a pointed look. "Do you think we can lose some of the baggage?"

Shinichi cast the bags a thoughtful look and then began unpacking them until his belongings fit within the confines of a much smaller suitcase. He thought to himself, _"I wish unloading emotional baggage were as easy."_

…

They hauled the remaining bag back to the Kuroba home, and it was then that it truly sank in what Kaito had done. He'd invited his biggest threat into his home, just went and let the guy have free run of the place. ("Come on in; make yourself at home. Help yourself to the lone can of peanut butter in the fridge [Don't worry. I'll go shopping later.] And while you're at it, Meitantei, go ahead and uncover all my deepest darkest secrets to use against me later.") Because, really, what was there to stop Shinichi once he'd learned what he needed from Kaito?

Kaito's heart whispered, "He wouldn't do that, and you know it. You know him. Tantei-kun is good and honorable. Tantei-kun wouldn't do that."

Kaito's inner pessimist reminded him that Kaito was a criminal—with a heart of gold, mind you, but still a criminal—and Tantei-kun was very much, hard core on the other side of the law. Tantei-kun saw black and white with no room for Kaito's grey solution to his father's murder and the Pandora threat.

But then the words "I do...sort of trust you, you know?" echoed around in the back of his head, and Kaito got a kind of funny feeling in his stomach.

This whole debacle was something to spend a sleepless night tossing and turning over, not really an internal debate he should be taking the time to duke out in the middle of the entryway while Kudo stood there with his bag looking like a lost tourist and waiting for Kaito to tell him what to do.

Kaito decided to shelf the matter and get on with the grand tour already. And then there was another moment of inner struggle. Was he seriously going to show Tantei-kun his house?! He'd yet to give Hakuba the full tour, and Kaito actually kind of trusted that guy. I mean, they'd been actual friends for about two and a half years now. Kaito sort of had a tentative amount of trust placed in Kudo...at least, in the sense that Kaito trusted that he could kind of anticipate what Tantei-kun was likely to do, but... Was Kaito seriously going to give the Great Detective of the East a tour of his house?! Yes. Yes he was, and he'd better get on with it before Kudo decided he was a total weirdo...or fidgeted a hole in the floor of the entryway.

"Come on. I'll show you around first, so you can just leave the bag here." Kaito motioned for Shinichi to follow, and he tried not to think about all the little things the detective was seeing that would have been invisible to anyone else.

Lives alone. Hasn't done laundry this week. Loner. Inferiority complex. Daddy issues. Mommy issues. Pain. Isolation. Likes dogs. Wants five kids. Closet nerd. Fears fish. Fears being left behind. Listens to American pop. Still watches cartoons. Sweet tooth. Paranoid. Fake. Layers of masks. Competitive. Athletic. Sensitive. Compassionate. Egotistical. Can't decide how he feels about the fact that he kind of likes men.

Kaito was afraid of what Meitantei might see. There was a whole list of things he wanted to keep hidden. He would have done anything to prevent himself from being found out, if only he knew how Kudo's eyes worked. What? Did Kaito have to move the sugar bowl or something? Was the positioning of the remote control indicative of his issues relating to others? Did the way he left the breakfast dishes on table instead of putting them in the sink tell Meitantei Kaito's life story? How did it work? How did Kaito go about beating the system? Or would Kudo be able to see through him regardless? ("I can see that you've moved the flour over by the sink in an attempt to hide the fact that you worry about disappointing your father; however, this tells me that you secretly get mad at your mother sometimes for leaving you behind and then later feel guilty about it because you know she's hurting too.")

"The stairs to the left lead to the second floor," Kaito got the show on the road before he could think about it all too much. "We'll do the downstairs first and come back to that. This door to the right goes down to the basement. It's finished, but it's mainly just storage space."

For Kaito's gym equipment. He had a wide range of everything from weights and gymnastics to parkour. He just didn't feel like telling Kudo that.

"You've already seen the living room." Kaito bit his lip, trying to remember if he'd left anything embarrassing lying out upstairs. "Uh...You can watch TV whenever you like; you don't need permission, and in this hall closet over here there are DVDs and video games and board games, if you get bored. You can help yourself to those too, so long as you put them away when you're finished."

Shinichi nodded, taking in his surroundings.

Kaito moved them along before Shinichi had time to notice that none of the pictures on the walls were recent. It was as if the decor was frozen in time, forever stuck the way it had been more than ten years ago, back when Kaito was eight.

"And just straight back is the kitchen." Kaito went in and tried to surreptitiously move the dirty dishes off the table and into a more acceptable location (like the sink) before Kudo noticed and thought that Kaito was a lazy slob.

"Again, you can help yourself to anything you like." Kaito opened up one of the cupboards and then quickly shut it, fighting a grimace with his poker face.

He turned to Shinichi and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry that there's not really anything in the house right now."

He hoped that Kudo didn't see the multitude of convenience store lunches neatly sorted into their respective trash/recycle bins.

"I wasn't expecting to have a houseguest, but I always do the grocery shopping on Fridays." _"Starting today,"_ Kaito mentally added. "So we can just get together a grocery list and go shopping after we do the tour and you get a chance to settle in."

"Sure. That's fine." Shinichi shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry again for imposing on you like this. I really appreciate your hospitality."

"It's not a problem," Kaito assured. "I mean...your life is at stake, after all."

"Still. I know I'm putting you in an awkward position." Shinichi frowned.

A thought suddenly popped into Kaito's mind unbidden: Those three little crinkles that just appeared on Meitantei's brow? They were kind of cute. So was the slant of his eyebrows. And the way his jaw was set. The whole face, actually, was pretty attractive. It looked a lot like Kaito's except for the eyes, but the eyes were really pretty too...like someone had crushed up a little piece of the night's sky and formed two perfect gemstones from it. If Kaito looked closely, he could almost swear he could see fragments of starlight in there. And this all snowballed into thoughts of putting Shinichi in a couple awkward positions.

Kaito shook his head. "Honestly, Kudo, don't worry about it. I'm actually glad I can help."

Sometimes Kaito hated his hormones. It was bad enough getting distracted by an underclassman in a short skirt, but getting worked up over his biggest rival? That was ridiculous. He made a mental note to find his true love and get laid soon because this virgin thing wasn't working for him anymore.

When Kaito was able to stop appreciating how nice Shinichi's butt looked in those jeans and instead tune back in to what Shinichi was actually saying, he caught the tail end of the detective's heartfelt thanks.

"...seriously thought I was going to go a little funny if I had to be cooped up much longer, so...thank you very much, Ki—uh...Kuroba...-kun."

"Just...Kuroba is fine." Kaito shrugged, feeling two kinds of uncomfortable. He decided to get back to the tour already before anything else disconcerting could transpire. "So...yeah. This is the kitchen. That door there leads to the backyard, but...it's a small yard. There's nothing really out there. And that pretty much sums up the downstairs except for the bathroom which you saw earlier, just off of the living room."

"What about that room?" Shinichi inquired as they went back out through the living room.

Kaito blinked. What room? Oh. He'd forgotten. There was another room just off of the living room to the back, right next door to the kitchen. It even had a connecting door that Kaito faced each morning as he sat at the table and ate his breakfast. Somewhere over all those years he'd just stopped seeing the door...stopped seeing the whole room.

"That...That used to be the dining room." Kaito went over and stopped in the doorway, feeling wrong about going in there for some reason. He peeked his head in and looked around for the light switch. Once he'd located it, he tried to flip it on, but after so many years without being used, the light bulb was dead.

"You guys...don't really use this room anymore," Shinichi deduced, observing the thick layers of dust that seemed to have bred like rabbits.

"No," Kaito answered quietly. "It's been eleven years, eleven months, and three weeks. June twenty-first. It was a Friday."

"You...have a good memory... I mean, considering you were, what? Like eight?"

Kaito nodded. Eight exactly. The last time they'd used this room was the last time they'd been together as a family. They'd eaten cake, and he'd opened his presents, sitting on his father's lap. He could almost hear the phantom laughter of little Kaito, see the ghostly after images of his parents and Jii-chan moving around. They'd all eaten dinner here together—Kaito's favorite tempura veggies on a bed of rice—and then they'd headed to the theatre for his father's show. And then Kaito had spent the night in protective services while his mother was cared for in the mental health ward of the hospital and rescue workers searched for his father's body. Yeah. Kaito had a good memory. Too good.

Sensing that something was terribly wrong and that he should refrain from asking, Shinichi commented, "You have a lovely home. I can't wait to see what the upstairs looks like."

Kaito nodded, turning away from the dining room and heading for the stairs. "It's really not all that spectacular, but thanks. Yours is a lot nicer...a lot bigger, and all the secret passageways are really neat." Kaito grabbed Shinichi's book-laden suitcase and carried it up the stairs for his guest.

Shinichi froze. "Did you really get a good look at it? I mean...you were just in the entryway and in the hall while I got my stuff, right?"

Kaito paused mid-step and then continued as if everything were business as usual. "Today, yeah. I meant from before."

"Before?!" Shinichi choked. "You've been to my house before?!"

"Yeah. Like I said, nice house," Kaito continued nonchalantly, hoping Kudo wouldn't make too big a deal of it but knowing that there was no such luck, not even for him.

"Why were you in my house?!" Shinichi shrieked incredulously, following Kaito up the steps, taking them two at a time in order to catch up.

"Work." Kaito shrugged it off.

Shinichi pursed his lips, reminding himself to hold it all in because he really needed Kid to teach him disguise, gosh darn it all.

"Just recon," Kaito attempted to soften the blow.

"There aren't cameras in my house now, are there?!" Shinichi barked indignantly. He'd only been back in his body a week now, but one week under Kid's surveillance was one week too long. Just think of all the embarrassing things Kid could have recorded and seen!

"No. I actually took them all out. The cameras, the bugs, the wiretaps... It was about two years ago, anyway. No one was living there at the time, but I noticed some guys casing the joint and trying to observe you, so...I started keeping an eye on them. I figured it had something to do with your little problem, so..."

"You were trying to help me..." Shinichi mumbled.

"Up here at the top of the steps to the left is the bathroom. There are just a couple of spare rooms up here, but this one to the right is mine, and the one across the hall is the guest room." Kaito indicated the corresponding doors. "Make yourself at home, but stay out of my room, okay?"

"Of course," Shinichi readily agreed, casting a glance at the open door at the end of the hall. It seemed to be another bedroom, but there wasn't any evidence that anyone but Kid lived here. Come to think of it, this bedroom looked just about as untouched as the unused dining room had been.

Kaito noticed Shinichi's gaze and volunteered: "That's...supposed to be the master bedroom."

Shinichi nodded, noting how...off Kuroba's voice sounded. Perhaps the elder Kurobas were off traveling much like Shinichi's own were. This was obviously a family home. Even though Kid was living here by himself at the moment, this wasn't _his_ house. "...Your parents won't mind me staying here, will they?"

Kaito stiffened. "...No. They'd be fine with it. I mean...it's just me here, and my mom was just here a few weeks ago, so she's probably not going to be back for another month at least, so it's not like she'll need the guest room until then, so..."

Shinichi nodded. Well. That was odd, but he knew better than to comment. "So long as I won't be in the way."

"You're fine," Kaito assured, feeling off balance. "I could probably use the company anyway. My parents would probably be pleased," Kaito reasoned. "...And that concludes the tour, so...I'll just leave you to get settled in, okay? I'll be in my room for a bit, but in about an hour I'll be down in the kitchen, if you need anything."

"Sure." Shinichi took his bag and turned towards the guest room. Just before he headed in, he turned back to Kaito and bowed. "Thank you, Kuroba. I really appreciate you opening up your home to me, and thank you so much for the tour."

"No problem." Kaito put on a weak smile and shrugged it off.

They said their awkward goodbyes and each ducked into his own room.

The guest room was nice and cheery, a relaxing shade of green. There was a dresser up against the same wall as the door, the bed in the middle with its headboard up against the wall to the right, an old trunk at the foot of the bed probably just for decoration, and an end table and a wrap-around desk pushed up against the far wall. Two wooden chairs were on either side of the end table, angled out and looking like someone had just gotten up from a good conversation over coffee and would be back any minute. The wall to the left was dedicated to a rather long, yet shallow closet filled with women's clothing and some odds and ends. Shinichi got a nice surprise when he closed the door behind him. There was a little bookshelf with all sorts of books on history, martial arts, child rearing, philosophy, and world religions just to the left of the door. It had been hidden when the door was open.

Shinichi quickly unpacked his things and then further investigated the bookshelf. He was surprised to find self-help books on depression, not so surprised to find books on astronomy and precious gems.

After he'd finished inspecting his surroundings, he glanced at the clock on the dresser, and it informed him that only twenty minutes had passed. That left him with about forty minutes to kill until Kuroba would be down in the kitchen. That left Shinichi with a couple options since he didn't feel comfortable just yet venturing out into the rest of the house on his own, even though Kuroba had been very generous and sincere with his invitation for Shinichi to make himself at home and help himself to anything he liked within reason. Shinichi could either poke his nose in the closet (which he wasn't going to do because the women's things in there either belonged to Kuroba's mother or to Kid's repertoire of disguises, and Shinichi didn't feel comfortable invading the privacy of either party), Shinichi could start on the stash of books he'd brought with him (but he might run out if he began on them so soon), or he could try to puzzle out the enigma that was the Kaitou Kid...or rather, Kuroba Kaito.

Shinichi had assumed that he knew Kid. After all, they had been going head to head for three years now. Shinichi could get inside the thief's head, anticipate him sometimes. Shinichi had thought that he understood, but clearly he had been wrong. Shinichi didn't know Kuroba Kaito at. All. He had no idea what the other young man was thinking and feeling. Shinichi hadn't realized it until today, but the Kid that he'd though he'd known wasn't real. He was just a mask, a character, a persona that Kuroba Kaito slipped on like a second skin.

Kuroba had layers, and there were bits and pieces of Kuroba that really were just like Kid, but...Kuroba was very much a distinctly different person.

And it kind of scared Shinichi to see the untouchable phantom laughing in the night as a very real, broken human being. What Shinichi had found behind the mask was sad and delicate but tenacious and formidable, fierce despite it all.

Kuroba piqued Shinichi's curiosity. He wanted to know more about the talented actor playing the phantom thief. But at the same time, he wanted Kuroba to put his mask back on. He wanted the indomitable kaitou back. He wanted the superior cackle at the taskforce's antics and the cat-like smirk the shape of a crescent moon. He wanted all those annoyingly endearing mannerisms that now were so obviously just an act to be the real thing...to cover up Kuroba Kaito so that Shinichi wouldn't have to face the truth anymore. Because looking at Kuroba was kind of like looking in a funhouse mirror for Shinichi. The image reflected back at him was distorted yet still familiar.

Part of Shinichi just wanted his devil-may-care rival back so that things could stay uncomplicated. Another part of him, the detective, needed to know more, to study, to deconstruct down to a molecular level, to unravel this new puzzle, and to understand the man behind the mask. Shinichi's natural detective's curiosity was winning out. He needed to know more about this Kuroba Kaito, correct his earlier erroneous conclusions. He needed to find the one truth and stare at it, bare-faced.

He had a feeling, though, that Kuroba wouldn't willingly be compliant with Shinichi investigation. No matter. Shinichi enjoyed a good challenge, and Kid had always been one of his favorites. He had a feeling that Kuroba wouldn't let him down.

…

Mikau: And that is that. What do you think so far? This is probably a little different than you guys were expecting. I kind of intend for this to be a sort of introspective piece where Shinichi and Kaito each work through their own issues while helping with each other's as they gradually get to know one another and begin to develop feelings. I also really want to work in the take down of the drug ring that Luna mentioned Shinichi wanting to go undercover for the police to help with. So there will be more action and character interactions later. Right now Shinichi and Kaito are just feeling each other out and getting settled. I have about two thousand words of chapter two in the rough draft stage right now, so if all goes well, I should have another chapter for you in a week. Please let me know what you thought. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this piece. Thanks a bunch in advance, and thank you again for stopping in and reading. Have a great week, guys!


	3. Echoes and Ghosts

Mikau: Hello everyone! First and foremost, thank you so much to everyone that reviewed last time: Yannami, Anonymous, Ern Estine 13624, Assasin8, Lady of the Shards, Smile, Vivianne95, Antina2000, GeekyGenius (times two), Miss Emotion, Bunnyz-chan, nipuLsemloH1412, JelpHasNails, Kimmiko T, and ThatGirlWhoLooksLikePopura! I sincerely appreciate all of you encouraging and supporting me and giving me your honest opinions of the piece. It was really great to get the feedback and know so many people were actually interested in seeing this fic continue, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'll try my best in the future too! Also, for those of you that didn't notice, chapter eleven of The Healing Process is finally up. If you like KaiShin/ShinKai, give it a try. And here is chapter three.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be even MORE characters. I'd really like to have some named background characters that show up from time to time, like Kaito and Shinichi's schoolmates or something. I'd like for there to be a pool of characters I could draw from if I wanted to have the guys/girls just hanging out. Anyway.

…

Chapter Three: Echoes and Ghosts

Okay. Yes. Kaito was losing it.

He blew out one big, long sigh of frustration, running both hands through his hair furiously as he bypassed his own room and went straight for the Kid Cave behind his father's portrait. He needed time to think. Time to get his head on straight.

"Okay," he muttered, beginning to pace from the portrait to the car that was still mostly filled with junk—he really just needed to dedicate a day to cleaning this place out—back to the portrait again. "Okay," he whispered once more, calming down.

Well. If that hadn't been a bit of an emotional roller coaster right there. Only Tantei-kun...and Aoko in the past...could get him that bent out of shape, try his patience, and make him use so much effort on poker face.

Kaito sighed, resting his back against the car door and sliding down to sit on the floor.

His father's picture smiled at him.

Kaito broke eye contact first. "Please don't look at me like that."

"Like what, Kaito?" he replied in a cheap imitation of what he remembered his father's voice sounding like.

"Like you love me and you're just so damn proud of me all the time," Kaito hissed, bringing his forehead to his knees while simultaneously hugging them.

"Well, I do, and I am. Watch your language, Kaito."

"Sorry," Kaito whispered, sitting up once more. "...What am I doing, Dad?"

"A good deed, my son," Touichi's voice reminded. "He needs your help."

"Yeah." Kaito let his head fall back to rest against the faded white of the car door. "I'm just so worried that this is a huge mistake, I mean, having HIM here, of all people. Dad, this could be a disaster. What if afterwards he decides to—"

"—That's not what you're worried about." Kaito cut himself off with his father's voice.

Kaito paused in confusion. Sometimes this happened when he got too into character and caught up in the moment. He shook off the momentary surprise and tried to get back on his train of thought.

"Then what am I worried about?" he asked himself, hoping his father would answer.

"You're not afraid that he'll rat you out. You're afraid that he'll figure you out. You're scared that he'll see through you, Kaito."

Kaito sat there in stunned silence for a minute before Touichi's voice continued. These conversations with his father's portrait were always full of revelations.

"Kaito, you spend so much time hiding behind that poker face of yours that no one can get close to the real you. You're afraid that Shinichi-kun is going to be able to see the true you...and you're afraid that he's going to reject you."

Kaito let the words float there for a moment before he quietly acknowledged them. "...yeah.

"Because the real me's not very pretty," Kaito mumbled.

"You're just a little rough around the edges. Anyone would be nicked up after all that you've been through," Touichi attempted to comfort his son, but the voice was sounding less like the great magician-thief and more like just plain old Kaito with every syllable.

"That doesn't change the fact that he'd reject me. He wouldn't come out and say it in so many words, but...he'd be disappointed...that his rival is really just some punk kid with a daddy complex and issues relating to other people. Fancy that. The Kaitou Kid is a loner, a misanthrope. He's probably got all these ideas about me, what I'm supposed to be like. He'd be disappointed, and he'd go find some other thief to chase for sport. He'd reject me in his own way."

"...But maybe he wouldn't." But the voice was one hundred percent Kaito now and not the least bit convincing.

The young man sighed, sitting in silence for another minute or two before slowly getting to his feet. "Yeah. Right. Maybe he wouldn't. Ha..." Kaito shook off the pessimism and looked his father's picture in the eye. "Good talk, Dad. I feel a little better now."

Kaito often wondered if this was something he should take up with a shrink or something. "Yeah, I talk to my dead father and he talks back. Do you think I have a few screws loose?"

Yes. But didn't everybody? Wasn't this just a coping mechanism? Other people carried on conversations with their pets, so why shouldn't Kaito talk to his father?

Because it was entirely different and definitely weird.

Kaito pursed his lips and went over to his desk, getting out a piece of paper. To give his mind something else to focus on, Kaito began to write out a training schedule for Tantei-kun. Because, yeah, they were actually going to do this, so Kaito had better take this seriously. After all, Kudo's life was depending on this...scary thought that that was. Assuming that Meitantei would be a quick study, Kaito began to put together a lesson plan that would have the guy a master (well, at least a pretty good amateur) of disguise and out of Kaito's hair in seven days flat. All Kaito had to do was keep up the poker face and keep Shinichi at bay during that time. If he could keep the detective at arms' length, there was a chance that Kudo wouldn't completely figure Kaito out, and then they could return to their moonlight tango of magician and thief relatively unchanged in their opinions of one another. That would be ideal.

On second thought, wouldn't their dance be more aptly described as a paso doble? Yeah. And Tantei-kun was the bull. Right. And Kaito wanted to go back to that back and forth at heists, relatively unscathed from his misadventures in tutoring his rival.

Kaito wasn't really optimistic about his chances, but he was going to try anyway.

With the schedule complete and his head a little more clear, Kaito headed downstairs to the kitchen an hour later, as promised. There was no sign of Tantei-kun yet, so he set about going through the cabinets and fridge, cleaning out all of the spoiled food.

He wasn't gonna lie; it was a little repulsive, and he was really, really glad he'd gotten at the task before Kudo could see the provisions currently stocking the Kuroba kitchen. Some of the items that Kaito threw away were no longer recognizable as whatever they had originally come into this house as.

Kaito curled his lip back in disgust as he removed a gelatinous blob the exact shade of split pea soup from the vegetable crisper. It was soon followed by a hairy ball of mold sitting on one of the shelves in the door. Surely Kaito cooked more often than this! How had things gotten in this state?! He didn't eat out that often.

The remains of a week's worth of convenience store meals laughed at him from inside the trash can.

Kaito shook it off and decided that before any edible food was going into this fridge, he was going to clean and sanitize the darn thing. Once it was empty, he did just that, finishing up just about four minutes before Shinichi peeked his head around the corner.

…

After waiting in the guest room with his own thoughts for the prerequisite hour, Shinichi came out and made his way down to the kitchen.

It was kind of creepy, walking through the empty halls of the Kuroba abode. He couldn't help but feel that something was...off...missing. It vaguely reminded him of the way his own house had felt during the Conan years before Subaru-san had moved in. Actually, the Kudo Manor had had that feel to it long before... It had started to exude that aura of "not quite right" as soon as his parents had left when they'd begun to travel and he'd chosen to stay behind.

The exact feeling was more like...like there was something gone, no longer there, but it had left an echo behind. At first, when Yukiko and Yusaku had only just gone, Shinichi would lie in his bed half asleep in the morning and think that he heard his dad down in the kitchen making breakfast...but there would be no one. Or out of the corner of his eye, he'd think he'd see the rustle of one of his mom's skirts, but she wasn't there. Worst of all, when the house was quiet, he'd round a corner and jump because he could have sworn that there was someone standing there. Only he knew he was the only one in that big house. It had happened too whenever he'd come as Conan with Ran to clean. It was surreal because he'd walk into the study and see himself as Shinichi sitting in one of the wingback chairs. But just for a second, and then the phantom would vanish.

Shinichi wondered if Kuroba ever saw echoes. It looked like Kuroba's parents were away for long stretches of time just like Shinichi's, so it was possible. Shinichi was kind of wondering about the elder Kurobas, though. Did they know their son was an international criminal? What did they do that they were away so often? Why did his mother sleep in the guest room when she returned? Was she just unwilling to sleep in the master without her husband? Did that mean that they traveled separately? It looked like that bedroom hadn't been used in a long time. Maybe...were they divorced?

Shinichi caught sight of one of the pictures hanging on the wall as he went through the living room. It featured a young boy around Conan's age with wild hair and a manically gleeful expression. This was Kuroba, no mistaking it.

There was also a classy, attractive young woman wearing...not exactly a smirk, but she was smiling like she had a secret. Kuroba really took after his mother. Kuroba as an adult, as Kid anyway, had a similar aura.

Additionally, in the background, there was an older gentleman that gave off the air of "proud grandfather"... Only he shared no genetic traits in common with any of the others who were obviously family, so either one of the elder Kurobas was adopted or this older man was just close enough to be considered family.

The remaining person in the photo was a man in his early thirties. He exuded an air of calm and poise and respectability. He was refined and well groomed with a peaceful smile. Where his wife had had a mischievous feel to her, Kuroba's father seemed straight-laced and serious.

Kuroba looked nothing like his father. Sure, the genetic markers were there confirming paternity, but Kuroba didn't really resemble his father the way sons sometimes did...like Shinichi did.

The only thing that really struck Shinichi was the twinkle in the man's eyes that hinted that there may be a quick wit and a keen sense of humor hidden beneath the reserved exterior that Kuroba's father presented. That twinkle was what told Shinichi that he and Kuroba were undeniably father and son. Shinichi had seen that same twinkle in Kid's eyes.

Shinichi glanced at other photos, noting a particular curiosity: all of them were from Kuroba's childhood. There were none that dated any later than the time when Kuroba must have been in his first or second year of primary school. It was quite odd considering that the rest of Kuroba's childhood was well documented on the walls, going all the way back to birth.

By the way, Baby Kuroba was cute. Like, baby animals hugging cute. Shinichi kind of got the feeling that women had been cooing and squealing over Kuroba since he'd been in a cradle. Shinichi looked at one of the infancy pictures and snorted, thinking, _"What the hell happened to you?"_

While debating if he really wanted to know the answer to that question, really wanted to know _anything_ about this strange family (He already knew the answer was yes. Kid had fascinated him for years, and unraveling Kuroba's mysteries would only bring him greater understanding, more pieces to help solve the Kid puzzle.) Shinichi made his way to the kitchen where Kuroba already was, sitting at the little table there and muttering to himself, presumably making a rough draft of the grocery list.

Shinichi stood just beyond the doorway for a minute watching and thinking, _"This is Kid?"_ Kuroba looked so normal, like a college student mulling over a geometry problem as he sat at the table. Was this really the great phantom thief that Shinichi faced off against?

"I know I'm pretty, but how long are you planning on staring at me, Kudo?" Kuroba called without looking up from the slip of paper in front of him.

Shinichi grimaced. Of course Kuroba had known he was there. "Sorry. I didn't want to disturb you in case you were doing something important."

"Just making out a meal plan for our super fun week together." Shinichi detected feelings of sarcasm, though none were present in Kuroba's tone of voice. "Come on in and take a seat."

Shinichi did so, sitting down across the small table from Kid. He didn't feel comfortable taking the seat right next to Kuroba, besides, he wasn't entirely sure that he was welcome so close in the first place.

Kuroba turned the piece of paper to face Shinichi, and the detective noticed two things right off the bat: one, even though the list was handwritten, Kuroba had used several different writing styles, most likely to keep Shinichi from becoming familiar with Kuroba's real handwriting. So. The thief obviously didn't trust Shinichi not to go back on their understanding that Kuroba would do this for Shinichi and Shinichi wouldn't turn Kuroba in. It really was understandable considering, but...it still stung, and it really made Shinichi want to prove himself, to gain his rival's trust.

The second thing Shinichi realized about the menu was that a lot of the items on the meal plan were Shinichi's favorites.

He looked up at the magician. "So...you like curry and beef stew and tonkatsu too?"

Kaito shrugged. "Curry, yes. Without the meat in it anyway. The others, no. I'll make something else for myself, but is this menu okay for you? I mean, they're your favorites, right?"

"Yeah, but how do _you_ know that?" Shinichi retorted indignantly.

Kaito shrugged. "Work. I may be ballsy, but not even I would have the audacity to disguise myself as Kudo Shinichi in front of Mouri-chan unless I was three hundred and ten percent certain that she'd never be able to tell. I may jump off buildings, but I don't have a death wish. I know a lot more about you than you'd ever feel comfortable with. That's just the nature of my job, Kudo, so there's no use freaking out over every little thing." Another shrug.

And then it really dawned on Shinichi that, holy crap! He was talking to the Kaitou Kid! He was in Kid's house, at Kid's table, discussing what they'd be eating together this week. How surreal was that?! About as surreal as shrinking back into a seven year-old. Hn.

Right. Shinichi's brain kicked back into gear because, like back then, this was his reality now. "I'd hate to have you make separate meals, and, I mean...I can help in the kitchen, but...what would you want to eat, Ki—Kuroba?" Shinichi mentally chastised himself for being as bad as Hattori with the Kudo-Conan thing.

Kaito frowned. "Well...I eat a lot of vegetables, grains, and soy...a lot of tofu and whole wheat pasta with veggies. Legumes, egg dishes, and seafood excluding actual f-fish." Kaito mentally cursed himself for stuttering. He took solace in the fact that it hadn't been as bad as usual. He was grateful that his impassive poker face had stayed on.

Shinichi blinked at that momentary stutter.

_"Probably inferring all kinds of stuff, dammit,"_ Kaito mentally hissed.

"Oh. So...you're a pescatarian...without the actual 'pesce' part. That's..." _Kind of funny._ "...interesting. Somehow I never pegged you for a vegetarian."

Kaito shrugged, trying to play it cool. He didn't really feel comfortable with Mr. Heisei Holmes getting to know so many personal details about Kuroba Kaito. Kaito desperately wanted to hide behind Kid's mask.

And yet, Kaito couldn't stop his mouth from running. He just had this urge to justify himself. "I'm just not very comfortable eating my fellow earthlings. My dad took me to a petting zoo once, and I got really attached to a pig that someone had named Tonkatsu as a joke. When one of the workers there explained to me that the pig was named after a food because tonkatsu was made out of pig... I was four, and I haven't eaten meat since then. It was kind of traumatizing. I used to cry whenever I saw people eating hamburgers."

"It sounds like you were a really sweet kid," Shinichi chuckled with a soft smile. And then a thought: "Sea creatures don't count?"

Kaito shifted awkwardly in his seat, looking elsewhere pointedly to avoid eye contact. "My mom lied to me and told me that seafood didn't come from an animal so I'd eat it 'cause the doctors were really concerned about my health. I was really little, and they were worried I wouldn't grow properly if I didn't get protein from somewhere. My mom was really annoyed about the whole thing, but...my dad supported me, so..." Kaito trailed off, suddenly finding the view out the little window overlooking the sink to be fascinating.

"So...Wait. Are you comfortable cooking meat then? Would you be comfortable with me eating meat around you?" Shinichi inquired, worried about offending his host. He could go a week without meat if Kuroba wanted him to.

"Cooking meat? I mean...it grosses me out, but I can do it. As far as you eating meat in my presence goes, I'm not a little kid anymore. I know people have to eat, and I understand that some people like meat. Just don't shove your meat in my face, and we'll get along."

Shinichi nodded. "You know, I'll eat pretty much anything. Just make whatever, and I'll eat it. I'm sure you already know what foods I dislike and that I don't have food allergies."

"Yeah, but..." Kaito but his lip. "Maybe pick one day and I'll make some meat dishes for you."

"Okay." Shinichi nodded. That sounded fair. "How about yakitori on Wednesday?"

Kaito visibly stiffened, the corner of his lip curled slightly. "Anything but that."

Shinichi blinked. "Oh? O-Okay. How about...some kind of pasta dish with grilled chicken or maybe...would something like turkey sandwiches be okay?"

Kaito's face went stony grey like ash, and he informed a little tersely that, "We don't eat birds in this house."

"O-Oh?" Shinichi gulped. Kuroba was looking a little intense. And then Shinichi got where the animosity was coming from. Kid _loved_ his doves. "Oh! I'm sorry! I guess that would be like eating dogs for some people. Pets are family, after all. Sorry."

Kaito shook it off, realizing that he was just being weird today. "No, it's okay. You didn't know, and...look, I'm the one that's sorry, Kudo. I'm not always like this, I swear. I'm just really on edge today. I mean...I'm Kid, and today Kudo Shinichi just showed up on my doorstep, and now my biggest threat knows who I am and where I live, and now you're staying here, in my house, for a week, so...can you kind of understand why I'm so jumpy?"

Shinichi looked down at the piece of paper between them, not really seeing it. "Yeah. Yeah, I get it, Kuroba, but...you know that I'm not going to do anything with all that information...don't you?" Shinichi tentatively looked up at Kaito, blue eyes sparkling in hopes that Kaito would just accept Shinichi at his word.

Kaito gulped. Those baby blues were a dangerous weapon. "Why not? Isn't it your job to put criminals like me in the slammer?"

Shinichi frowned slightly. "There aren't any other criminals like you. And are you even a real criminal anyway?" Shinichi challenged. "You go to all that trouble to steal things, and then you don't even keep them. Something's wrong about you. I've always felt that way. Sure, you piss me off and annoy the hell out of people, but you're not a real thief, Kid, and I intend to figure out what's up with you. Heists are fair game, but what reason do I have to turn you in right now?"

Kaito was silent.

"I know I make you uneasy because of our past, but...Kuroba, I'm not here as a detective. I'm here because I need your help. So could we just try to put the detective and thief parts of ourselves on hold while I'm staying here?"

Kaito seriously considered it for a moment before he nodded. "I can try."

"I would appreciate it," Shinichi sighed. "You don't have to be all buddy-buddy with me, Kuroba, but if you could just try to maybe...I don't know...treat me with a little less suspicion, that would be really great. Like I said, I would appreciate your efforts."

"Okay," Kaito agreed softly, looking back down at the week's menu. "So...you'd really be okay with seafood and soy and grains and veggies and stuff like that?"

"Yeah, I mean, as you probably already know, I'm not a picky eater. I'm willing to try new things, so just make whatever you'd normally make," Shinichi urged, kind of excited about eating all sorts of new dishes.

Kaito held in a laugh. What he normally made? He normally made a trip or two to the store every day to pick up pre-made meals. And that was when he actually bothered eating a quote, unquote real meal. It looked like having Kudo around was going to improve Kaito's eating habits for the time being.

"I guess...well, tomorrow's Saturday, so we can start training after breakfast. For lunch we can eat pasta and crab with veggies mixed in, and then dinner will be a simple dish like a soup or something. Maybe minestrone." Kaito started out speaking to Shinichi, but halfway through he began to mutter to himself and scratch out a new menu for the week on the back side of the previous sheet.

"Sounds great," Shinichi encouraged as he watched a tasty-sounding meal plan take shape.

Kaito looked up from the paper and frowned deeply. "You're going to want coffee," he stated bluntly.

Shinichi blinked twice. "Is...that a problem or something?"

Kaito sighed, scratching his cheek. "I don't drink coffee, so I don't own a coffee maker or anything. We'll have to buy one when we go out to shop."

Shinichi stared blankly at his host. "That's not a problem; I'll pay for it, but...you don't drink coffee? You of all people who must stay up night after sleepless night working on heists, YOU don't drink coffee?"

Kaito shrugged. "It tastes funny. Plus, I don't like the crash that comes when the coffee wears off."

Shinichi squished his eyebrows together in befuddlement. "Do you chug energy drinks before heists then?"

Kaito shook his head.

"So you just naturally bounce off the walls like a super ball?" Shinichi demanded in disbelief.

Kaito nodded. "Most of the time, yeah, but Hakuba insists that it's the gallon of sugar I consume per day."

Shinichi had two thoughts on this matter. One of them was _"Wait. Hakuba Saguru the Superintendent's son?! Do you guys chat over tea or something?! When between dodging traps and wiping glitter out of his eyes did he have time to tell you that you eat too much sugar?!"_ The other thought was _"A gallon?! Seriously?!"_ Both got voiced together in the form of "Hen?!"

Kaito shrugged, a lopsided smile growing quickly on his face. "So yeah...I don't drink coffee." And then Kaito was over it and moving on to the next thing. "Take a look at the list and let me know if there's anything else that you want. Any snacks or specific fruit or something to drink. You know."

Shinichi looked at the list and came up with a couple of items. While considering his wish list, a thought occurred to Shinichi: _"This is going to be a kind of expensive trip to the grocery store."_ He also took note of the fact that Kuroba was a college student living in his parents' house. The guy probably didn't have a job what with his busy nighttime schedule taking up a good chunk of his time and classes occupying his days. And it wasn't like Kuroba was making anything off of his elaborate jewel heists. If anything, they were probably a financial drain. It _was_ summer, so the possibility of a part-time job existed, but Kuroba had made no mention of working Shinichi's training around his work schedule, so… And even if Kuroba did have an allowance from his parents, surely the guy was on a budget.

Shinichi made a decision. "Hey, let me at least pay for the groceries since you're letting me stay here and training me for free."

Kaito opened his mouth to refuse politely, but then he considered both the monetary costs and the loss of peace of mind that Kudo being here was causing him.

Kaito bit his lip. "Well, part of me feels that I should be all Japanese about this and refuse your generous offer the first three times for appearance's sake. Can we just pretend that we did that part already and get on with it?"

Shinichi chuckled. "Yeah. That's totally fine with me."

"Cool. Well, why don't you come on in to the living room, and we'll slap another disguise on you so we can go get the groceries. Would you mind eating something quick tonight? It's already four o'clock, so by the time we get back and put everything away, it'll be about that time. Wanna just pick up something premade from the grocery store for tonight and then we'll get all fancy with the cooking starting tomorrow?" Kaito cocked his head to the side and mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that Kudo would go for the prepackaged stuff. Kaito was really hoping that years of Mouri-chan's home cooking hadn't turned the detective into a food snob. (If so, we were going to have a problem because Kaito could cook, but he couldn't beat Mouri Ran…in pretty much anything.)

"That works for me." Shinichi shrugged, easy smile unfaltering.

Kaito took that as a good sign.

"Only…" Shinichi pursed his lips.

Uh-oh. There was a "but" coming.

"Could you maybe do my makeup and everything somewhere with a mirror so that I can watch?" Shinichi finished his request.

"Oh." Kaito blinked. "Yeah. Sure. Yeah, I guess that would be helpful, wouldn't it?" Kaito laughed awkwardly. "Sorry. This is my first time really teaching anyone anything, so bear with me a little."

"No, it's fine," Shinichi assured. "I just want to learn as fast as I can so that I can get out of your hair."

Now it was Kaito's turn to purse his lips. "You know…" Kaito nibbled on his bottom lip, feeling embarrassed. "Kudo, it's really okay, you being here. I may not act like it because I'm paranoid as hell on a good day, but…look, deep down I know I can trust you, and I really don't want you dead, as big a thorn in my side as you are…." Kaito looked away, unable to meet Shinichi's gaze as he mumbled the next part. "I actually enjoy having you at my heists. I really like the challenge, so…I don't mind helping you out."

"…Thanks," Shinichi whispered, smiling softly, genuinely touched that his rival appreciated him despite it all.

Kaito shifted uncomfortably, trying not to get caught up in the way Shinichi's lips curved and the slightest bit of teeth showed. Even harder was trying not to notice the way blue eyes glimmered in the light coming from the fixture hanging above them over the table. And, dammit, there was just this one little piece of hair hanging down in the stupid detective's stupid face that Kaito just wanted to reach out and tuck behind Shinichi's ear. And then maybe he could lean in and…

Gah! Hormones.

"Come on. There's a big mirror in the bathroom. We can do your makeup in there," Kaito informed, getting up and heading out into the living room before he could get carried away.

"Okay," Shinichi easily agreed, having no knowledge of what had just taken place inside Kaito's head. He got up and obediently followed, a lamb unknowingly trotting after a hungry lion.

…

Mikau: Again, mostly introspective, but you guys seemed to like that, and I'm having great fun delving into the characters, so I think it's good, all in all. There are a couple moments in this chapter that I'm really happy with and a few that I feel didn't shine the way I wanted them too, but overall, I think this chapter is pretty okay. I hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought. I'll try to have chapter four up sometime next weekend, but this week has been busy with midterms and my grandpa's death, so…I really haven't gotten as much done writing-wise as I'd wanted. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, though. Thanks in advance for taking the time to send in your feedback guys. Again, I really appreciate the overwhelming support.


	4. Beyond the First Layer

Mikau: Hello again, everyone! Thanks for coming back for more! Thank you very much to the reviewers from last time as well: Ern Estine 13624, Vivianne95, Kimmiko T, Bunnyz-chan, Assasin8, Lady of the Shards, GeekyGenius, Miss Emotion, JelpHasNails, and ThatGirlWhoLooksLikePopura. I've actually got a new HakuKai fic too called Against the Odds. I know you people are mostly KaiShin, but if you like my work, you may enjoy this new fic too. I've had a lot of people tell me that they started liking HakuKai because of my fics, so you never know. If you start reading it and hate it, you can always stop, so give it a try if you have time. I've also got two new short fics in my KaiHaku and KaiShin collections in case you didn't see those yet. Yeah. I've been busy. I have a feeling the diehard HP fans are going to lynch me. ^.^; And now on with the show!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be more mystical gems out there. I think it would be cool if Kaito found one or two before actually finding Pandora. The antics! Can you imagine? I mean, if there's one magical gem, there's two, and enough supernatural stuff happens in Magic Kaito originally that they could totally put another magic jewel in there. Just saying.

…

Chapter Four: Beyond the First Layer

Kaito tried not to think too hard as he whipped up a new disguise for Shinichi. He tried not to touch the detective too much, tried not to look directly into those pretty blue eyes. They were like bug zappers—hypnotic, irresistible, and extremely dangerous.

Kaito mentally berated himself as he did Shinichi's eye makeup. If he'd just lower his standards a little bit and get a girlfriend already, he wouldn't be having these problems. I mean, really, Meitantei was attractive, but the only reason Kaito was feeling so drawn to him was because Kaito was about a week short of being twenty years old, a legal adult, and yet he had never had any sort of love life to speak of outside the confines of his own bedroom with the door locked. Because there was no telling when his mother would randomly show up or Aoko would pop in to make sure he was eating properly, and how embarrassing would that be? And then he'd feel the need to explain himself, justify himself: "I'm waiting for marriage, okay, but I'm a guy, and guys have needs, you know!"

Yeah. So…No. Okay, maybe a girlfriend wasn't the answer because it really did mean a lot to him to wait for someone special, and he really didn't want to compromise his values, so… He made a note to set aside more time for alone time…after Kudo left. Because how embarrassing would THAT be?! Or…maybe…if Kudo did happen to walk in on him…Kaito could almost imagine Kudo's shocked and slightly flustered face melting into a mischievous smirk to rival Kid's as the detective slunk like a jungle cat across the room and over to Kaito's bed. Kudo leaned in and took Kaito's lips in a rough, condescending kiss before pulling back and purring, "Let me help you with th—"

—NO! BAD! Not going there!

Kaito's hand jerked, smearing eye shadow where there should not have been eye shadow. "S-Sorry," Kaito stuttered, quickly fixing his mistake.

"You alright?" Shinichi inquired with concern evident in his voice. He opened his eyes and blinked up at Kaito through his long, pretty eyelashes.

Kaito's poker face slammed down, holding in a whimper as Kaito tried to get his mind out of the gutter. It was a little hard considering their position. Kaito was sitting up on the vanity while Shinichi sat on a stool in front of him, between his legs.

"_Don't look at him,"_ Kaito commanded. _"Just don't look at him, Kuroba. You'd never be able to live it down if you propositioned your rival, and you'd probably get a soccer ball to the face for your trouble on top of it."_

With another mental admonishment of _"poker face"_, Kaito forced himself to smile sheepishly and fib, "Sorry. Yeah. It's just harder doing someone else's makeup. I've never done it before."

"You're fine," Shinichi laughed warmly, making Kaito want to squirm. "I can't do any makeup at all, so you've really got my admiration being able to do what you do and do it so well. Knowing you, you'll be a pro at painting someone else's face by tomorrow, so don't stress over it."

Kaito forced himself to swallow. How could Kudo be so chummy with him? He was the freaking Kaitou Kid after all. The compliment was really nice, though. It was kind of neat to hear that Meitantei had such faith in him (never mind that Kaito had already mastered the skill, thank you very much. He was just having a horny teenager moment. Okay, forget the fact that he would be turning twenty in a week's time. He had a feeling that he would be having horny teenager moments for the rest of his life).

"Thank you," Kaito forced himself to respond. Because it really was nice of Kudo.

Ten agonizingly long minutes later, Kudo Shinichi was absolutely unrecognizable as such, and the unlikely duo were off to the nearest Seiyu grocery store.

Along the way, Shinichi quickly observed that Kuroba was a very well-liked, contributing member of his community. The "Kuroba" (chilly, distant, introverted, guarded) that Shinichi had assumed to be the real face behind the mask of Kid quickly morphed into a cheery, charismatic guy once they stepped out that front door.

Kuroba helped old ladies across the street and then kissed their hands and offered them a rose—actually, he did that to pretty much all females regardless of whether they were in strollers, high heels, or wheelchairs. Kuroba held doors for people and scolded ruffians that weren't behaving on the train. He stood up for kids being bullied and offered a hand to people that looked like they could use one or two more. What's more, the people of the community seemed to know him. Shopkeepers called out to him, and the ladies of Ekoda giggled and waved.

And Kuroba always had a little magic trick prepared for everyone he met. They were just small-scale tricks, nothing compared to Kid's magic, but Shinichi found himself drawn in all the same. It was Kuroba's presentation, really, that made the trick something special.

"You've been staring at me for a while now," Kuroba noted a beat after he blew a kiss to the train station attendant. It was eerie how fast the magician's face went from a flirtatious grin to a look of suspicion, raised eyebrow and everything. "Are you planning on announcing that you've secretly been nursing a crush on me all of these years and are you then going to beg me to be yours?"

Shinichi nearly tripped over his own feet. "Hanagh?!" Shinichi squealed inarticulately. "What?! No!"

"Darn," Kaito sighed if only to watch his rival's face turn different colors like a kaleidoscope while Shinichi made funny noises. "And here I was hoping that you felt the same way about me."

This time Shinichi failed to notice the curb in time to step up, and he really did trip. He soon righted himself and began to make all manner of squeaky toy noises.

Kaito really hoped Kudo didn't have an asthma attack or anything. He'd feel bad for teasing. "I was joking," Kaito offered, hoping that would help.

"Oh," Shinichi chuckled nervously and then sighed in relief a little louder than strictly necessary.

And that kind of hurt Kaito's feelings for some reason. Kaito tried to console himself by remembering that even though he was a very handsome, kind, loving, excellent catch and _he_ knew it, not everyone was privy to that information yet. Kudo would change his tune soon.

By that time, they had arrived at the supermarket. They both grabbed a basket as they walked in the door and hung a right into the produce section.

There wasn't really much need for conversation as they shopped beyond "This one looks fresher", "What brand do you like?", and "That one has a better date", so they mainly shopped in silence with Kaito chatting briefly with every other person they ran into.

"You know a lot of people," Shinichi noted as they passed the aisle with the juice, water, and sodas.

Kaito shrugged. "I've lived in Ekoda my whole life excluding the weeks here and there when I went with my dad on tour. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that was definitely true in my case. A lot of these people are like aunts and uncles and grandparents to me."

Shinichi nodded, making a mental note that Kuroba's father went on tour. Perhaps that was where the elder Kurobas were. Then he was some kind of musician or performer or something?

"When my mom couldn't take care of me anymore after…my…after my…" Kuroba paused, unable to finish the thought. He took a minute and cleared his throat, pretending that he'd gotten something caught there and _that _was the reason why he had stopped. And then he continued the sentence, ending with, "…after my mom got sick and had to be hospitalized."

Shinichi wondered what Kuroba had originally been going to say. Clearly something else had been the cause of his mother not being able to care for him, but…being hospitalized was kind of a big deal. Shinichi also wondered if he was reading too far into things and if Kuroba really had just stopped because he'd gotten something caught in his throat.

It was quiet for a moment as Kuroba led them to the grains aisle. Shinichi really didn't know what he was supposed to say, so he was glad when Kuroba kept talking.

Kaito, on the other hand, really wished that he could just shut up already, but he found it easy to talk to the sleuth, and still he felt the need to explain himself for some reason, lest the detective make inferences.

"It wasn't her fault. I mean…I don't blame her for not…I mean…it was hard for her too, so… Anyway, I got shuffled around a lot, just kind of moving from one family to the next. It was only for a couple weeks at a time, and I'd just start to feel comfortable some place, and then someone else would take me. The first year was like that, but then, when I was nine, the Nakamoris really stepped up and took me in. They would have taken me at first, but…that was the same time that Aoko's mom left them, so…they were dealing with their own crap at first, but the point is that in the end they really took care of me…are still taking care of me, so…" Kaito shifted awkwardly, staring intensely at the different boxes of pasta, pretending that he was studying the nutritional information.

Kaito bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

"You don't really talk to people much, do you?" Shinichi hummed, selecting the box in Kaito's left hand and putting it in his own shopping basket.

Kaito blinked, turning to look at the detective in surprise. "What do you mean? I've talked to at least thirty people in the last twenty minutes."

Shinichi shook his head, studying Kaito's face. "There's a difference between exchanging pleasantries and having a conversation. What you were doing with all of those people was delivering lines, like an actor playing the role of 'Kuroba Kaito'. I didn't notice at first, but everything's fake. Everything you do and say is just acting."

Kaito wanted to cut him off, make him stop. He wanted to shout, "Stop dissecting me! I'm a person, not a case! Stop looking at me like that! Stop seeing through me!" At the same time, he wanted to sigh in resignation and ask, "Is that so wrong? How am I supposed to trudge through life if I don't act like I'm okay? My poker face is my crutch, and I don't know how to walk without it."

But Shinichi kept talking. "You're fake with everyone, but…that right then…what you just said about your mom and when you were a kid…that was real, Kuroba. For a minute there, you were being real with me."

Kaito forced himself not to fidget as Shinichi smiled warmly at him. Kaito didn't know what he was supposed to do. His gut reaction was to throw up a wall. Snarl and hiss and keep Kudo away. Snap at the detective, show him his teeth.

Before Kaito could do anything, Shinichi smiled gratefully, pinning Kaito with his gorgeous marine blue eyes like a butterfly under glass. "Thank you," Shinichi chuckled. "Thank you for telling me that. That must have been really hard for you, moving around all the time, living with different people, not having a place where you knew you belonged…. How is your mom doing now? I kind of got the impression that she travels a lot but she comes back from time to time. Is she doing better?"

Kaito forced himself to look away. His heart was beating like a hurricane against the window panes. He swallowed first and then replied, "A little bit. She takes medicine, and she seems to do okay on the pills, so…I can't say she ever went back to the way she was before she got sick, but…she's my mom, and I love her, you know?"

Kaito had had enough of sharing for one day. Kudo was getting too close, and Kaito didn't want Tantei-kun knowing about his mom's suicidal meltdown, his dad's murder, or that Kaito was just a scared little kid underneath this front he put up, afraid of being thrown away and left alone.

Kaito turned on the ball of his foot and was about to head for another aisle when he spotted one of his neighbors. Seizing his opportunity, Kaito immediately engaged them in conversation in order to get away from Shinichi's analytical powers. Kaito couldn't stand being under Meitantei's microscope anymore.

Shinichi accepted Kaito's retreat and took the time afforded him to go over what he had learned from this honest bit of conversation. Obviously Mrs. Kuroba had a chronic condition. A condition that required her to be hospitalized for more than a year. She must have been very sick indeed. Perhaps she suffered from organ failure and was waiting for a transplant? The timeline didn't seem right. Cancer? Didn't seem likely. She was still taking oral medication, so… Maybe a congenital heart condition? Only Kuroba had implied that his mother had changed after her illness. This was something that had come on rather suddenly, but not something like a heart attack or cancer. Then maybe we were looking at mental illness rather than a standard disease. Suddenly Shinichi remembered the books on depression in the Kurobas' guest room.

Oh.

So…Mrs. Kuroba had had…some kind of meltdown…and it must have been a very severe case if they kept her hospitalized for over a year…. Shinichi added "family history of depression", "possibility of abandonment issues", and "high probability of emotional insecurity" to his mental file on Kid, and then he paused for a moment and frowned at Kuroba's back as the magician talked animatedly with an old woman.

Because there in front of him was an individual that had had a tough time of it. Regardless of what Kuroba was now, at one time he had been a scared little kid pushed off on one stranger after another while his mother was in the mental ward and his father was out of the picture, traveling the world without an ounce of concern for his family. Kuroba Kaito had been all alone, surviving on the kindness of others. Was it any wonder that Kuroba had turned out to be so fake? He'd probably learned to adapt to whatever situation he'd been thrust into, to smile and act cheerful and sweet because people treated him better that way. Or maybe he'd learned not to cry and act sad because someone had mistreated him for being gloomy.

But this was all speculation. Shinichi lacked proper clues. He needed more information before he could make any decisions.

Shinichi continued to watch Kuroba as they finished their shopping, searching for clues but respecting Kuroba's privacy and personal space.

It wasn't until after they checked out and were on their way home that Shinichi really spoke again. "You shouldn't flirt with every single woman you run into." He had finally had enough and couldn't keep quiet about it anymore. "That checker, Sakai-san, she really likes you. You shouldn't lead her on like that."

Kaito slowed his gait and cast Shinichi a thoughtful, sidelong glance. He seemed to consider the other young man for a minute before he faced front once more and resumed his brisk pace. "Sakai-san doesn't actually like me. Her husband cheated on her, and they're going through a divorce right now. It's been really hard on Sakai-san and her three year-old daughter. Still, she loves her husband. I'm just a nice distraction."

Kaito pointed to the middle-aged woman that he had fawned over at the bakery on the way to the store. "That's Yamaguchi-san. Her husband passed away a few months ago of a heart attack, and she's really lonely because her daughter doesn't call or bring the grandkids by to visit anymore. Her husband brought her a yellow rose every Friday since they were married on a Friday. I've kind of been keeping up the tradition because it makes her smile."

Next Kaito motioned to the young, twenty-something woman still sitting outside the café. "Yanagi-san wants to be a pediatrician, but she's having a hard time with the entrance exams. She's brilliant, and she's got a good heart, so she'd be great for the job, but she gets test anxiety real bad. I usually stop by and quiz her, buy her some coffee."

After that Kaito pointed out the apartment over the café that most likely belonged to the owners. "Maya-chan is living here with her grandparents while her mom is in the hospital. She's ten, and she's recently started to realize that her mom isn't going to make it. She's a good kid. She forces herself to smile a lot, so I bring her candy and show her a new trick each time I pass by."

Next up was a little Laundromat where a forty-something woman was down on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors. She'd been hand-washing the windows when they'd passed by the first time. "Nakano-san's husband committed suicide about a year ago leaving behind a huge gambling debt. She works three jobs. I do what I can to make her smile when I come this way."

A few buildings down from the Laundromat was a seemingly ordinary cream-colored house. "Nana-chan lives her. She's sixteen, and she's seriously gonna be the one that finds the cure for cancer. Her mom left, though, and her dad…he drinks too much, and sometimes he gets mad and hits her. I keep trying to help her, but…the problem is the rest of the time her dad's a really great guy. He's a cop, so going to the police is…Plus, she loves her dad. She's lived this way for so long that she doesn't know anything else. Sometimes I take her for ice cream."

Kaito cleared his throat. "So…you never know what's going on in other peoples' lives, but usually it's shitty. Women shouldn't have to deal with that crap. Every woman deserves to feel special, so…I just do what I can to try to help."

Hn. Well. That was unexpected. The Kaitou Kid wasn't a playboy after all; he was a feminist!

"…I always thought you were actually a good person," Shinichi hummed when it looked like Kaito wasn't going to say anymore.

Kaito blinked, forgetting himself for a moment and looking incredulously at his companion. "You did?"

"Yeah," Shinichi chuckled. "Like I told you before, I've never felt like you were a real criminal. You've always seemed like more of a little kid dressing up in his dad's suit to me."

Kaito tripped but managed to right himself mid-fall like a cat.

"Are you okay?" Shinichi gawked, not realizing how close to home his words had hit.

"Fabulous," Kaito lied, getting his poker face back in order. "Just a little drained today."

Shinichi nodded. "Anyway, yeah…I've always thought you were secretly a good person, but…I never knew that you were so…" Shinichi chewed on his lip, fishing for the right word.

"So what?" Kaito found himself holding his breath.

"Altruistic," Shinichi finally decided. "I guess the thing with getting Lupin out of the safe for Old Man Suzuki should have been a tipoff, but…"

"Oh," Kaito replied neutrally, giving the detective a once-over out of curiosity. He still couldn't understand why Kudo was being so friendly with him, so unguarded.

And then Shinichi looked right at him and smiled softly. "You know, you're really interesting."

Kaito fought the oncoming blush. He knew Kudo had meant that he found Kaito to be a challenge of a certain intellectual interest, but somewhere in Kaito's emotionally starving brain the words got twisted around, and it ended up sounding a lot more raunchy. As if Shinichi had said, "I think you're cute. When we get home, I plan on throwing you down on the couch, ripping your clothes off, and writing my name on both of your thighs in hickeys." Because wasn't piquing a detective's interest akin to turning them on? Wasn't "interesting" detective-speak for "sexy"?

Or maybe we were getting back to Kaito's little problem with the virginity and the overactive, teenage sex drive.

"…Thank you?" Kaito finally replied.

Shinichi shrugged. "You're welcome." He had gathered some _very_ insightful information about his rival today. Frankly, Kuroba enthralled him. There were so many things he wanted to ask Kuroba about Kid, about Kuroba himself. Lots of whys that Shinichi wanted answers to, but…he knew Kuroba wouldn't answer, would feel threatened, would get suspicious and clam up.

So instead, Shinichi decided to open up first. If he was an open book with Kuroba, maybe Kuroba would eventually reciprocate.

As Shinichi helped to put away the groceries, he tried to think of a topic of conversation that would open up lines of dialogue with his reluctant host. He considered talking about his family, but then he thought that maybe that wasn't such a good idea because even though Shinichi had an atypical arrangement, he still had a pretty good family life. I mean, he had good relationships with both members of his family. If Kuroba's early family life had been as Shinichi suspected what with his mother and her mental health issues and his father off touring and not there when Kuroba needed him most…well, families might be a sensitive topic for the magician-thief.

They sat down to eat their pre-made dinners at the kitchen table, and conversation was still hard to come by. And that was when Shinichi got desperate and thought, _"You know what? Let's just give it a shot. I know the guy's childhood was happy up until he was eight or so going by all the pictures up until that point in the living room. At least it would be somewhere to start."_

"So…my mom always wanted a lot of kids, but she could only have me, and even that was really hard, so…my parents kind of poured all of their time and energy into me when I was little 'cause they knew they weren't getting another one. I think they got bored after the first six or seven years," Shinichi rolled his eyes and shrugged, "…but they loved me a lot, you know. Only…my mom wanted a girl. And you just don't say no to my mom. I mean, she gets what she wants. She had to make due dressing me up in frilly stuff and gowns and all that, but…was your mom ever like that? You're an only child too, right?"

Kaito nodded. "Right. I think my parents would have had more kids eventually, but…"

Shinichi noted the reluctance to proceed. He mentally filled in the rest of the sentence with "…then my mom got sick" or possibly "…they got divorced". Both seemed like appropriate continuations.

"I mean, my dad always loved kids." Kaito shifted uncomfortably. "My mom always used to tell me about how my dad adored me, so…but, yeah. I'm the first, last, and only. My mom never really cared one way or the other, but…we did used to play dress-up when I was little. Sometimes I'd put my mom's makeup on or draw a mustache on my face with eyeliner so that I'd look like my dad. We had a special eye pencil for that express purpose." Kaito chuckled softly as he scooped up a mouthful of rice with his chopsticks. "Sometimes I'd dress up like my dad and he'd let me help out at his shows. He let me pull things out of his hat or show things to the audience or pick a card or stuff like that. When we toured, he'd plant me in the audience and make my chair levitate." Kaito's smiled turned sad. "Even though I was still really little, he took me seriously and taught me everything right alongside his real students."

Shinichi frowned. "Your father's a magician."

Kaito blinked and then nodded emphatically. "The _best_. A hell of a lot better than me, anyway," the thief sighed.

Shinichi's eyes widened as realization hit him. Of course! Why hadn't he put it together before? "Your father was Kuroba Touichi." And then the pieces all clicked into place. Kuroba Touichi who had died in a stage accident twelve years ago almost to the day. At the same time that the Kaitou Kid had first disappeared…when Kuroba was eight. Around the time when time had stopped in the pictures in the Kuroba living room. The day that the Kuroba family stopped using the dining room. And around the time when Kuroba's mom had had her mental breakdown.

Suddenly Shinichi's mental picture of "Kuroba Kaito" grew exponentially clearer. It was starting to make sense. Because Kuroba's father was dead.

"Yeah." Kaito fidgeted in his seat under the sharp gaze of those steely blue eyes that he was pretty sure were equipped with x-ray vision. He just felt like Shinichi was always looking through him and seeing all manner of secrets that Kaito never wanted anyone to know. "You didn't do a whole lot of looking into me before you showed up this morning, did you?"

"Uh…no," Shinichi chuckled sheepishly, a little embarrassed that he'd come so unprepared, but… "My parents just said you were a family friend, so…" Which reminded him that his parents were friends with the first Kaitou Kid—What?! He'd have to interrogate them about that later.

Kaito nodded. "Well, I have to go feed my doves now, so…" It was true, but really he was just feeling uncomfortable. He'd spent way too much time with the great detective today, so he was trying to gracefully take his exit.

Shinichi's ears perked up. "Where do you keep the doves? Not in the house, right?"

Kaito shifted his weight from one foot to the other, anxious to get away from his natural predator. "Actually, yeah. Up in what was supposed to be the attic."

"Could I see them? Please?" Shinichi nearly begged, eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

"Sure," Kaito replied before he could think straight. Damn those magical blue orbs. It just wasn't fair!

Shinichi quickly cleaned up his things and eagerly waited for Kaito to show the way.

Kaito headed up the stairs, wondering just what the hell had gotten into him. It wasn't like him to fall over himself for a pretty pair of baby blues.

Once they got to the second floor, Kaito pressed in one of the panels up high on the wall, and a set of stairs slowly dropped down.

Shinichi looked on in wonder. He hadn't noticed the hidden trigger situated right above the door to the guest room. He followed the magician-thief up the steps and into the little attic aviary where about a dozen doves were flying around.

"Wow," he mouthed, watching in awe as Kaito whistled and chirped and clicked at the doves.

Each little avian swirled around her master, responding to his calls. And Kuroba Kaito smiled. Truly smiled like Shinichi hadn't seen all day. And it was beautiful. Kuroba laughed as his doves perched on his body, giving his ears little love nips and nestling in his wild hair. And Kuroba's laugh was lyrical. For the first time, it wasn't a chuckle or a snicker or a cackle; it was just a laugh. Only joy without the usual condescension or sarcasm.

Finally it clicked for Shinichi. _This_ was the real Kuroba Kaito. Kuroba was a sweet, compassionate young man who tried to make people smile. He wasn't really cold; he was just guarded because he'd been hurt before. He didn't trust people, but he loved humanity anyway. He struck Shinichi as the type of person that believed everyone had some good in them, even though he knew about the evils of the world firsthand. Kuroba was multifaceted, and Shinichi was intrigued.

"They're really well-trained," Shinichi marveled, quietly breaking into Kuroba and the doves' private world.

Kaito blinked, raising his guard again. "Yeah. Thanks. Doves are extremely intelligent creatures. They're easily trainable, so…"

"Do they all have names?" Shinichi watched warily as one of the doves circled him as if evaluating his worth as a perch.

"Yeah; Mona, Luna, Nana, Rona, Nona, Hana, Runa, Una, Yuna, Yana, Mana, Jona, Henna, Donna, and Zenna. Those are my girls," Kaito announced proudly, pointing each one of them out.

Apparently they knew their names because each dove gave a little chirp as she was introduced.

"Do you still have the one that I took care of that one time during the Scorpion case when you were…" Shinichi trailed off as his eyes widened. Once again realization hit him like running into a glass door that he hadn't known was closed. "You were shot."

"Yeah. That's Mona," Kuroba replied, politely ignoring Shinichi's sudden halt in speech and treating the topic of himself getting shot rather lightly in Shinichi's opinion. Kaito called Mona over and stroked her feathers when she'd landed and settled onto his finger. "Thanks again for that, by the way. Don't tell the other girls, but Mona's my favorite. She's a descendant of one of the doves that my dad always used."

"Wait. Hold on a minute." Shinichi demanded that they back up. "You got _shot_."

Kaito blinked, not seeing the significance. "Yeah?"

"Kuroba, she _shot_ you!" Shinichi reiterated, not comprehending why Kuroba didn't get what a big deal that that was.

Kaito shrugged, going back to the birds. "So? That was back in high school. A couple _years_ ago. If I got that worked up every time that someone shot me, I'd never get anything accomplished."

Shinichi's jaw dropped. "Wait, wait, wait! No. Are you saying that you get shot at on a regular basis?! What's wrong with you?! That's a huge deal!"

"And I think the kinds of dangers you put yourself in as a detective are pretty crazy too, but you don't see me horning in on your suicide mission, do you?" Kaito snorted, turning to Zenna and nuzzling her.

"…but…I don't want you to get shot at," Shinichi mumbled bashfully, embarrassed that he had no other comeback than his own feelings on the matter. And he was rather surprised to find that he felt them whole-heartedly. Really, he didn't want anyone to be shot at, but the thought of Kuroba dodging bullets was just…it made him sick to his stomach.

Kaito squirmed under Shinichi's sincerity, his pleading eyes, his honest admission.

"Well…" Kaito finally replied, but none too fluidly. "Then why don't you just catch me already? Lock me up in a cage like a tiger at the zoo and watch me pace all day until I lose my mind, why don't ya?" Kaito snapped. "Fact of life: bullets are an occupational hazard for me."

Shinichi considered Kaito's words for a minute and mulled over his response before finally opening his mouth. Even though he knew that Kuroba would never answer him, he asked, "Then why do it? Why be a kaitou when you get nothing out of it? Why go to the trouble of doing everything that you do?"

"…Not that I owe you anything, and not that you've earned any answers from me, but have you ever considered that maybe I'm doing something worth dying for?" Kaito quietly replied.

Shinichi nibbled on his bottom lip as silence fell between them. "…I guess…it's my job as a detective to find out what exactly it is that you're _really_ doing with your charade, huh?"

Kaito sighed as he scratched the underside of Henna's neck. "You know, I told Hakuba when we first met that it was his job to figure it out, but…now…I don't really care. I don't want people to understand me. I just want to find what I'm looking for and get back to my life. It's been almost four years, and I feel like I've missed out on being me, on just being _Kaito_ because of all the junk I've had to deal with as Kid. Everyone else has moved on with their lives…but I'm still just stuck.… And, Kudo? I don't really want you to figure me out. I'm not a riddle; I'm a human being."

But Shinichi didn't really hear the last part. Shinichi had gotten caught up in the part about Kaito feeling like he'd been left behind by those around him, like he'd missed out on the last four years of his life. Because Shinichi was in the same boat. Shinichi had become Conan when he was sixteen, and now, at twenty years old, he had just finally gotten his body back. Only…his life was still in shambles. He hadn't been able to step back into his life as Kudo Shinichi. There wasn't a place for him there anymore. Conan's body had had its severe limitations, but at least Conan had family and friends and a place in the world. Shinichi had been all but forgotten about in the four years he'd been gone.

Ran had moved on about two years ago. She'd met a nice guy in college, and Shinichi had let her go. He knew that he couldn't hold her back anymore no matter how much he loved her…_because_ of how much he loved her. All of Shinichi's friends had moved on as well. He didn't even know where half of them were. Probably off at college or working at this or that company. Shinichi had been misplaced. And finally he'd found someone that understood.

Kaito snuck a peek back at Shinichi when the detective had been silent for an unusually long amount of time, and when he turned around, he found Meitantei looking at him like he wanted to give Kaito a hug. A big, awkward, bone-crushing hug.

Kaito really didn't think that they were at that point in their relationship where that kind of hug would be appropriate.

He took a hesitant step back. "Um…" Kaito bit his lip and fidgeted a little. "So…Stop that."

Shinichi blinked. "Sorry. What?"

"You were gawking at me," Kaito accused.

"No," Shinichi tried to explain. "It's just because…what you said…I get it. I mean, I—"

"—You know what?" Kaito chuckled, but it sounded forced. "It's been a long week for me, and I'm really tired. I think we should probably go do our own thing now, 'cause, on a good day, when I'm around a detective for too long, glitter tends to end up in uncomfortable places, and people's hair gets dyed pretty colors. Things go sideways fairly quickly when I'm tired, and since you're the only one here with no one else to help take the brunt of the crazy, I think it'd be better for you if we left it at that for the night."

And then there was a cloud of pink smoke, and Kuroba was gone when it cleared.

Shinichi blinked. Well. That…hmm. Shinichi concluded that either, one, Kid really did get antsy around law enforcement types and really had left before he could prank Shinichi, or, two, Shinichi had pressed too hard and made Kuroba uncomfortable. Maybe it was a mix of the both, but Shinichi was leaning more heavily towards the second option.

It was a real shame, though, because now Shinichi really wanted to get closer to Kuroba more than anything, to befriend the magician. Shinichi hadn't believed that there was anyone else who could empathize with him in his current situation, no one else who was feeling the way that he was, no one that could understand…but now there was Kuroba.

Shinichi had gotten a taste of what could be. More than anything, he just wanted someone to lend him an ear and reply, "Yeah. I feel the same way." Kuroba could do that. He and Kuroba shared a bond, whether Kuroba knew it yet or not.

Shinichi would have to find a less creepy, non-invasive way to breech the subject with Kuroba. Right now they were still practically strangers, and Kuroba probably wouldn't be comfortable having that kind of heart-to-heart.

For now, Shinichi headed back to the guestroom, figuring out the mechanism to close the attic access, even though Kuroba was probably waiting to hear Shinichi come down so that he could come out from wherever he was hiding and take care of things himself.

Shinichi spent the rest of the evening reading through some of the stuff on the bookshelf in his room and then some of the books he had brought with him. He figured that he was free to move about the rest of the house, but he still didn't feel comfortable doing that yet. He settled in to go to bed at around ten thirty, but he couldn't sleep.

It was a mix of a handful of things like being in an unfamiliar space, but the main thing keeping Shinichi from drifting off was Kuroba Kaito. Shinichi couldn't stop thinking about the magician-thief. More than just interesting, Kuroba was _fascinating_.

There were so many layers to unwrap, so many different faces, one mask on top of another, kind of like a matryoshka doll. Shinichi needed to get at the center, at the core. Shinichi wanted to know, to understand. But it was more than just an intellectual curiosity now. Shinichi wanted to know Kuroba personally. Shinichi wanted to get at what made Kuroba tick, learn where Kuroba's buttons were, and see Kuroba's scars. And then he wanted to show Kuroba his own wounds, knowing that Kuroba would be able to understand the things that no one else did.

Yes, Shinichi was having trouble sleeping because there was just so much to think about. The creases in Kuroba's brow earlier in the day when he'd been showing Shinichi around the house. The sad look in his eyes. The gleeful grin of the younger versions of Kuroba in the photos in the living room. The cheerful mask that Kuroba put on in public. That shimmering, genuine smile while Kuroba had been with his beloved doves. The musical sound of Kuroba's laughter.

Shinichi had gathered a wealth of information today, and it all had to be carefully sifted. And Shinichi was okay with the fact that he wasn't going to be getting to bed anytime soon. His study of Kuroba was much too interesting to let it wait another day.

…

Mikau: Wow. That actually turned out rather long. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Writing Shinichi's deductions was a little awkward for me for some reason, so I hope they turned out alright, but…I had a lot of fun writing this chapter at least. Things are slowly rolling along as far as the relationship goes. I think next chapter is going to be very entertaining. Shinichi gets his first disguising lesson, and there's the obligatory "walking in on someone just coming out of a shower" scene that must be included in every fic where the pair live in the same house. I'm serious. It must be done. Under penalty of law. ^.~ So look forward to it, and let me know what you thought on your way out. Thanks so much for reading guys! And (a total aside) speaking of amusing: my Criminal Law professor. Hilarious. He's a defense attorney, and in the middle of class he'll get calls and texts about work. My favorite quote: "Hold on a second. I have to take this and make sure this guy's not in jail." He says it so matter-of-factly, so nonchalantly, right in the middle of his lecture. Have a great day everyone!


	5. Beginning to Trust

Mikau: Hi there, guys! Sorry that this chapter is a teensy bit late. You can thank Poirot Café (a super cool proboards forum for DCMK fans. Check it out!) for that. They're having this writing contest, and I've been working on my submission. Keep an eye out for it, by the way. It's KaiShin, and I should finish editing and post it by Tuesday-ish. Anyway, this morning I realized it was Friday and that I hadn't gotten my BtM chapter for the week done. ^.^; I just finished this a few hours ago, so the last two thousand words are not as polished as they could be (I kind of just busted them out this morning), but I wanted to get this out there for you guys. Special thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter: Ern Estine 13624, Ambiguous Cake, Kimmiko T, Bunnyz-chan, Miss Emotion, Assasin8, GeekyGenius, Vivianne95, Lady Paper, ThatGirlWhoLooksLikePopura, and nipuLsemloH1412! I'm so thrilled to have all of you supporting me and this fic. It means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd put the Gosho boys in fedoras occasionally. How sexy are fedoras? I think Hakuba in particular would look good in one. And we all know Kaito could make a garbage bag look like the hottest new thing, so there's no doubt in my mind that he could pull off a fedora. He's got the rakish attitude for it, anyway. And we already know Heiji looks good in a hat; my only concern is that he might look a little bit like a member of the mafia. Shinichi…I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. Opinions?

…

Chapter Five: Beginning to Trust

Kaito wasn't exactly a morning person, but he still forced himself to get up every day before sunrise in order to get in a good workout. Because once he got going, it was hard to take an hour or so out of his day to fit it in, and staying in peak condition was essential to his continued success as a phantom thief.

And then after the workout, there was a nice long shower and breakfast to look forward to. Kaito often allowed himself to doze in the shower as the warm water pelted his skin in a gentle massage. As steam rose around him, it was his opportunity to relax, to get his to-do list in order and organize his thoughts.

As you may have guessed, most of his thoughts this morning centered on the detective still asleep in his guestroom.

Kaito resisted the urge to bang his head against the black, red, and white tiles on the shower wall. Damn his hormones and his bleeding heart. He should have never allowed Kudo into his home, into his life. He should have volunteered to commute to Beika every day himself instead of letting that detective get close to him. And now look at what was happening: Kudo was doing his detective thing, ripping Kaito's carefully crafted defenses down, wrestling Kaito's mystery and secrets away.

Why did detectives always have to be so nosey? Why couldn't they just contain their curiosity and respect other people's privacy? Kaito didn't want to be studied. He didn't want to be solved or cracked or whatever it was the law enforcement types thought that they were doing to him. Sure, he was technically a…well, _he_ thought of himself as a _vigilante_, but, I guess, criminal, but most of the time Kaito was just a young man with problems and issues. Life was rough, and did the boys in deerstalkers and inverness really need to know about the inner workings of his mind? His love life? His insecurities? Was nothing sacred, Detectives?! Didn't one have a right to keep personal things personal?

Kaito sighed and shut off the water. What was the use complaining about it now? Meitantei probably had him pegged already. Kudo could see through him now that Kaito didn't have Kid's monocle and top hat to protect himself.

"_Does it really matter if he sees?"_ Kaito mused as he toweled off. _"Yes! I mean, what's he going to think of me!? What's he going to think of the _real_ me? …Why do I even care?"_

While ruffling his hair dry with the big, fluffy towel, Kaito decided that he probably cared because he respected the detective…maybe even admired him a little bit. Tantei-kun had always been a worthy rival, and Kaito had come to have a sort of esteem for the tenacious sleuth. He admired Kudo, and he wanted Kudo to respect him too, but…Kuroba Kaito was a fake and a thief. What was there for Kudo to acknowledge in him?

"_There has to be something."_ Kaito sighed again. _"I mean…I'm clever at least, aren't I? And my acting skills are amazing, aren't they?"_

Kaito suddenly remembered the day before when he'd been doing Kudo's makeup. The detective had smiled and laughed and reported that he had full faith in Kaito's disguising abilities. Kudo had admitted that he admired Kaito for his skill.

Kaito found his cheeks growing warm and not just from the shower. He shook his head, trying to push Shinichi's smile—so innocent, sincere, and unassuming—from his mind. Kaito gulped as he realized that there was a cute detective sleeping upstairs coupled with the fact that he himself was very much naked.

This time he did give his head a good thunk against the tiles because there was no way in hell Kudo Shinichi, Great Detective of the East, would be interested in engaging in some heavy petting with a wanted criminal.

And at that moment, further internal debate was halted as the bathroom door opened. Kaito had just enough time to wrap the towel around his waist before Kudo Shinichi stepped in and froze, petrified like a Medusa victim as he caught sight of Kaito.

…

Shinichi hadn't slept much. Really, he was too busy trying to work out all the ins and outs of that entity and resident enigma known as "Kuroba Kaito", but at some point late, late into the night or possibly very early in the morning, Shinichi _had_ drifted off. He awoke not long after sunrise and couldn't find his way back to dreamland, so he rolled out of bed, still groggy but no longer able to just lie there.

He decided to head downstairs to take a shower. He didn't know what time Kuroba got up, but he figured that the magician probably showered in the upstairs bathroom, so Shinichi didn't want to go in there and hog the space. He didn't want to risk being an inconvenience should Kuroba get up and need the upstairs restroom to get dressed.

Shinichi grabbed the towel that had been provided for him off of the side table by the chairs by the closet and collected his shampoo, soap, toothbrush, and other supplies.

He was still pretty out of it, so he leaned heavily on the railing as he descended the stairs, turning left at the bottom and cutting through the living room to reach the downstairs bathroom. He was resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be functioning on anything but a base mental level until he had his second cup of coffee. Thank God they had bought that coffee maker yesterday.

Shinichi paused in the living room for a second. He could have sworn he heard the shower going in the bathroom. It must have been his imagination because he couldn't hear any water running at the moment. He stopped and listened, but he didn't hear anything now.

Shinichi opened the bathroom door and was hit in the face by a wall of steam…and then the sight of the Kaitou Kid in a bath towel.

Shinichi's first instinct was to stammer "S-S-Sorry!" and flee the scene, slamming the door behind him. Unfortunately, after his mouth dropped open but before he could get the words out and run, his gaze got caught on Kaito's torso.

There, right above the heart was an old scar. It was faded, but it was still there if you looked really intently like Shinichi was doing at the moment. It looked like a wound caused by the impact of taking a round while wearing a Kevlar vest, but there were layers, like one scar on top of another, as if Kid had taken multiple hits on separate occasions but in the same spot.

Down along the sides of Kuroba's body there were other scars, definitely the work of past bullet wounds. They ranged in age and visibility, most of them from at least two or three years ago, Shinichi would say if he had to guess. He supposed that that showed that Kid had gotten better at dodging bullets over the years. Or his attackers' eyesight had diminished because they certainly weren't neglecting to practice.

Kuroba's arms too showed signs of abuse, mostly grazes. The calves as well, and Shinichi would have bet that the thighs had similar damage, but he couldn't see them at the moment because of the towel.

…So Kid really had been shot…and not just once or twice. Shinichi shivered in horror and then vowed to find out who was using his thief for target practice. He promised himself that he'd make sure they never saw the outside of prison walls ever again.

Meanwhile, Kaito was standing there in a towel. Being stared at intensely and evaluated. He could _see_ Shinichi running his eyes all over Kaito's body, and it was absolutely maddening. What was Kudo thinking?! Was he studying the incriminating scars so that he'd be able to testify about them in court?! Or…maybe…did Kudo…_like_…what he saw?

Kaito was feeling lightheaded. He could just imagine Shinichi making the four great strides across the room and snatching away his towel, pressing him up against the cool tiles, and absolutely ravishing him while Kaito screamed in ecst—Oh my God!

No. No. No. And NO again!

Kaito mentally shrieked at himself to get a grip…though, the acoustics in the bathroom would be perfect for—NO! Kaito prayed that Kudo's scrutiny would end soon because he wasn't sure how much longer he could take it. He was _this close_ to inviting the detective to take a shower with him, and the phrase, "You know, I've never done it in a shower before; would that be something you'd be interested in trying out?" was on the tip of his tongue, held back only by the fact that his mouth was so arid it would suck dry the water reserves of a cactus.

Still Kudo stared with his x-ray beams, analyzing. And when Kaito realized that there wasn't the slightest amorous intent in Shinichi's gaze, it ticked him off.

"_Here I am so wound up that I'm ready to give up my virginity to _you_ in a _bathroom_ for crying out loud, and you don't even find me the least bit sexy!"_ Kaito mentally seethed. _"Here I am, hunk of gorgeous, eligible, flexible, dexterous vitality, scantily clad in a towel! All you'd have to do'd be pull the damn thing off of me, and I'd be yours, but the thought of screwing me senseless doesn't even cross your mind?!"_

Finally, in his outrage, Kaito got his act together and managed to snap, "Uh, Kudo, if you could stop molesting me with your eyes for a second, that would make this whole situation a heck of a lot less awkward."

"What?" Shinichi blinked, focus coming back to the present moment. He blinked again and then turned phoenix red when it dawned upon him that he'd walked in on his host and hope for salvation and then had just stared, unblinking for who knows how long. God, how creepy was that?! Kuroba probably thought he was some kind of homo freak now! He rushed to explain, but it was too late.

Shinichi had continued staring completely platonically for too long for Kaito's tastes, so, in indignation, Kaito took the towel and flung it at Shinichi, hitting him right in the face.

Kaito stormed from the room as Shinichi made all manner of strangled, apologetic, dismayed gurgling noises. Kaito slammed the door behind him and darted up to his room before he could do something stupid, like offer to wash Shinichi off with his tongue. And he thought to himself, _"Great. Now I need a cold shower."_

Shinichi, on the other hand, was currently stunned, still standing in one place as one thought floated around inside his mind: he had seen the Kaitou Kid buck naked. He wondered how many others shared that experience.

…

About twenty minutes later, Shinichi hesitantly approached the kitchen where he could hear Kuroba moving about. He distinctly smelled breakfast—a western breakfast of pancakes or waffles and some kind of potato smell that was probably hasbrowns and then eggs on top of all of that. And Shinichi was most likely going to be eating cold cereal unless Kuroba graciously permitted him to use the kitchen, but Shinichi wasn't holding his breath after the fiasco in the bathroom. Kuroba had seemed livid.

Wait. Shinichi took a few steps closer.

The scent of coffee was wafting into the living room. And Kuroba didn't drink coffee.

Shinichi peeked his head around the corner.

Kuroba was standing over the sink washing berries, his back to Shinichi. "What kind of pancakes do you want? I'm having chocolate chip. You usually have blueberry or mixed berry, right? I can make anything, though. Have you ever had banana pecan? Or maybe pumpkin? Pumpkin chocolate chip is good."

The magician was acting all friendly, like nothing had happened, and it was extremely convincing…only…Shinichi was familiar with Kuroba's prowess as an actor. He knew he was still in the doghouse.

Shinichi dropped to his knees into a deep, low bow with his forehead touching the wood of the kitchen floor. "Kuroba, I am _so_ sorry about this morning! Please, let me explain! I swear to you that I wasn't doing anything weird like checking you out or anything! I was only—"

"—I know," Kaito cut him off, tone shifting from cheery to neutral indifference. "You were just looking at my old battle wounds, right?"

Shinichi blinked, lifting his eyes slightly to look at Kuroba's still turned back but remaining in his penitent bow. "Y-Yeah. You knew?"

Kuroba shrugged, moving to the stove to flip the eggs, maneuvering around Shinichi as if he wasn't there. "Yep."

"But…you seemed so angry…" Shinichi mumbled. "You're still angry."

"Yep," Kaito chuckled with a jester's grin. "Furious. Now get the hell off the floor, Kudo. I made you coffee. On the counter by the microwave."

Shinichi tentatively got to his feet, slowly in case it was a trap. If Kuroba was mad, he was definitely going to be pranking Shinichi. And it was going to be a very unpleasant, most likely nasty prank that took Shinichi a full week to get out of his hair and clothes.

He went over to the mug of coffee and cautiously picked it up. It smelled fine, but it was probably booby-trapped or had some undesirable extras in it. Still, Shinichi knew that he must be suitably punished before Kuroba would ever relent, so he took a deep breath and pressed the cup to his lips.

But nothing happened. It was just regular coffee. It was actually kind of delicious, really. Shinichi was absolutely amazed. Frankly, he'd been expecting something putrid or at least bitter to be masquerading as coffee, but…Kuroba had actually just made a cup of coffee for him.

"Th-Thank you, Kuroba. It's really good," Shinichi replied, feeling off-balance. He expected retribution, an attack from Kuroba, but he had no idea when or where it would be coming from. He kind of just wanted to get it over with. If not, he'd only be waiting for it all day long.

"Good. I just kind of read the instructions, but I'm glad I got it right." Kuroba shrugged it off, grabbing the measuring cup full of pancake batter. "What kind of pancakes did you decide on?"

"May I have mixed berry, please?" Shinichi bit his lip, contemplating his next move. In the meantime, he went over to the table and set down his coffee. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Look through the paper and tell me if there's anything in there about priceless gems coming to town," Kaito snickered.

Shinichi sat down and opened up the paper, feeling five kinds of wrong for doing it. Did this count as aiding a criminal? Was he an accomplice now?

"I was joking," Kaito kindly informed before Shinichi could have a nervous breakdown. "I've already checked the paper. Just sit there and look pretty. I'll have breakfast in just a second."

Shinichi grumpily set the newspaper aside and began to nurse his coffee with a frown.

"That's not very pretty, Tantei-kun," Kaito pretended to chide. "You should at least bat your eyes or something. It's a waste of that face of yours always wearing it in a scowl."

Shinichi held in a glare, reminding himself that he was at Kuroba's mercy. He _needed_ Kuroba's help because he was not waiting two weeks for his parents to get back, and, besides, he'd already gotten one strike against him this morning for the shower thing. He couldn't risk another.

Shinichi took a deep breath and reluctantly asked, "And how would I go about making myself more aesthetically pleasing to you?"

Those words sent a tingle of guilty pleasure coursing through Kaito's body. He held in a leer and instead smiled earnestly and replied, "Nothing, my dearest detective, as you are the very personification of beauty. I ask only that you smile."

Shinichi's mouth dropped open in disbelief as his ears turned bright red. "Wow. So you pull lines like that out in real life too, do you, Kid?"

Kaito wore an innocent expression. "What was the line? 'Disguises are always a self-portrait'? Kid isn't entirely an act; I have my moments of charm and flirtation as Kuroba Kaito as well."

Shinichi's jaw now reached all the way to the floor. "Did you just try to quote Irene Adler from BBC's Sherlock?!"

Kaito's innocent smile persisted. "Yeah. Did I get the line right? It's been a while since I've seen that episode. I like Irene a lot. She's got spunk."

Shinichi's eyeballs might have fallen out of their sockets had he opened his eyes any wider. "Why the hell did _you_ of all people watch BBC's Sherlock?!"

Kaito shrugged, flipping Shinichi's pancake over and looking a little sad. "What? I can't watch good TV? …Fine. I plead temporary insanity."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "As opposed to your usual, perpetual brand of insanity?"

Kaito frowned as he fixed up two almost identical plates except for the different varieties of pancakes. "Yeah. It…It was a really hard time for me about two years ago. We'd just graduated from high school."

Shinichi buttoned his lip as soon as he realized that Kuroba was being serious. Shinichi didn't want to interrupt the magician when he was finally opening up because Shinichi could never be sure that it would happen again. He knew that it would never happen again if Kuroba was honest with him and Shinichi didn't react appropriately. Kuroba Kaito was not one to share, so Shinichi knew that he had better shut up and feel honored that his host was being so generous with him of all people.

"There was this girl…she was my best friend for a long time, and…well, I guess you could say that she's my equivalent of your Mouri Ran. I…I loved her," Kaito whispered, placing the hashbrowns just so on the plate. "I loved her in a dozen different ways over the years: as a sister, friend, mother, confidant, comforter…woman…but I never told her. I couldn't tell her."

"Why not?" Shinichi called softly, hoping he wouldn't break the spell that had fallen upon Kuroba, making him willing to share this information.

Kaito smiled sadly down at the eggs before shaking off his melancholy demeanor and bringing breakfast over to the table with half-grin (very much faked). "Her name is Nakamori Aoko. The Nakamoris that I mentioned taking care of me yesterday when my mom was sick? That was Inspector Nakamori. Aoko's his daughter, and I'm…" Kaito shrugged, handing Shinichi a fork.

Shinichi's mouth made a little "o" shape of realization.

Kaito chuckled softly, pushing his eggs around on the plate. "She'd be heartbroken if she ever found out. Well…first she'd fly into a blinding rage and destroy half of Tokyo, then she'd lynch me and burn my corpse, and finally she'd be heartbroken. Anyway, after high school she flat out told me that she was sick of waiting around for me and that some other guy had asked her out. She gave me a chance, but…I couldn't. I couldn't hurt her like that, and I could keep holding her back, so…I let her go. And it was really hard," Kaito laughed bitterly, forcing a smile that looked so unnatural. You could tell that he was trying not to tear up. It obviously still hurt him, but he was trying not to show it.

"Anyway, I was a total mess after that. I mean…you can imagine what kind of shape _you'd_ be in if things went that way with you and Mouri-chan." Kaito shrugged again, trying to keep things light, trying to brush it off like it didn't affect him anymore.

"I don't have to imagine," Shinichi cut in softly.

That made Kaito blink, the fake smile dropping off of his face. "What?"

"I said, I don't have to imagine what it would be like," Shinichi repeated firmly.

Kaito just sat there looking at him for a minute or two, completely caught off-guard and not sure what to say or how to react. "W-What happened?" he managed to choke out in reply, but then he realized that that might not be something his guest wanted to talk about with him. It was none of his business.

But Shinichi smiled reassuringly. "You finish your story first. Then I'll tell mine, even though it's short. What happened after high school that ended in you watching BBC's Sherlock?"

Kaito laughed sheepishly, getting back to the tale. "Right. Uh, so…my mental state was compromised, and I was emotionally vulnerable, and I guess you know how that is, but…this friend of mine was always there for me. We'd hang out and just talk…like, really deep conversations that I hadn't been able to have with anyone before, and it was really strange because before the thing with Aoko happened, back in high school we'd sort of hated each other's guts. I couldn't stand them before, but…then I realized that they were kind of like me in that the face they presented to the world wasn't really who they were at all, so…like I said, I was a total wreck, and my friend really just saved me, and…so…for about a year I was convinced that I was completely in love with them. I watched a lot of Sherlock Holmes that year…. Besides, my best friend is a Sherlockian, so of course I've been forced to watch Sherlock at least once or twice."

Shinichi blinked, and when it became apparent that Kaito would not be continuing, he demanded (like a small child determined to have the end of the story), "Wait. What happened after that? What happened with the girl?"

Kaito blinked, looking truly confused. "Aoko?"

Shinichi shook his head. "No. Your friend. The one you thought you were in love with."

"Oh," Kaito chuckled, taking a few bites of his pancake (now smothered in syrup, butter, powdered sugar, and whipped cream). "My _friend_." He smiled at the memory. "They flat out told me that I was only attracted to them because of Florence Nightingale Syndrome and that I'd soon return to my senses if I really stopped and thought about it. It was kind of awkward, really. I mean, then they told me that I was a really good kisser but they preferred women."

"O-Oh?" Shinichi squeaked, cheeks coloring at the mental image of Kuroba kissing some tall, blonde, super model of a woman only to get turned down because she was a lesbian. "And…then what happened?"

"I climbed off of their lap, tried to laugh it off, and then didn't come out of my room for two weeks." Kuroba rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I mean…then they came and dragged me out, complaining that they missed their best friend, but…we're cool now. I got over it for the most part."

"That must have been really rough," Shinichi whispered, not sure what to make of Kuroba's story. He would have to go through it again and process it all better later.

"Yeah," Kaito sighed, popping another bite of pancake into his mouth. "I'm sorry. I have no idea why I'm telling you all this. I don't usually just go on and on about my life story. I don't know why I'm rambling at you so much. I did it yesterday too," Kaito grumbled as he poked at his hashbrowns. It was like someone had slipped him a truth serum, and he really needed for it to stop.

"Well, I can tell you that it's partially because you think I can read your mind," Shinichi volunteered gently.

Kaito blinked, thinking, _"Well, can you? Because you seem like you can."_

"But I can't," Shinichi continued, only making Kaito all the more suspicious. "_You're_ the magician, Kuroba, not me. I'm just a detective, and all that I'm doing is putting the clues together. It's just like doing a puzzle without looking at the box…and with some pieces missing."

"Because that's not hard at all," Kaito scoffed under his breath.

"Okay, so it takes some skill, but I've had lots of practice. Anyone can be trained to do it, but…the point is, you're being more open with me in part because you think I've already got you figured out."

Kaito was about to allege, "Well, _don't_ you?" but he held his tongue and instead asked, "What's the other half of it then?"

Shinichi shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. (Note to self: Have Kuroba show you how to use the coffee maker. Shinichi's coffee never turned out this good.) "The other part? Humans are social creatures, and you're alone too much."

"I'm always around other people," Kaito argued with a roll of his eyes.

"It's like we talked about yesterday in the grocery store. Remember how I said that there was a difference between having a real conversation with someone and that playacting that you do when out in public?" Shinichi tried to be as nice about it as possible, aware that Kuroba could easily take offense. Usually people only developed coping mechanisms like Kuroba had after some deep hurt they had suffered, and Shinichi didn't want to rub salt in the magician's wounds or aggravate Kuroba.

"Yeah?" Kaito begrudgingly mumbled.

"You can be around people all the time and still be utterly alone." And Shinichi knew what that was like all too well.

Kaito began to squirm in his seat. He didn't want to be having this conversation anymore. Not for the first time he wanted Shinichi out of his life because it hurt. It hurt to have someone really look at him, really see him.

"I think you need someone to listen to you, someone that can understand." Shinichi nibbled on his lip a bit in thought before he continued. "You know, Kuroba…I think I get you. If you wanted to talk to me about it, I think I could understand. I…I want to understand you. You need someone to be there for you, and I want it to be me. Kuroba, I want to be your friend."

Kaito broke eye contact as a wave of…he wasn't quite sure. It was a mix of negative emotions: rage, sorrow, pain, and nearly half a dozen others of that ilk, and it came down on him like a bucket of ice water.

"You don't understand anything," Kaito whispered, voice shaking. He stood up and glared down at Shinichi, not bothering with his chair which had gone clattering to the ground. "You walked into my life yesterday, and now you think you know everything, Mr. Detective?" he snapped in a quiet fury. "You don't know anything at all about me. You understand nothing about who I am and what I've been through." Kaito began to walk off, tossing, "You don't want to be my friend. You just want to study me, Detective," over his shoulder.

Shinichi stood up. "Yesterday, you were talking about being left behind, about everyone moving on without you because of Kid. You said that you felt like you'd missed out on the last four years of your life, and, Kuroba, believe me, I understand how you feel."

Kaito paused in the doorway.

Shinichi took that as a good sign and continued. "Just think of what it's been like for me as Conan the past four years. I didn't even get to keep going to school and seeing my old friends. There may not be anyone that's particularly close to 'Kuroba Kaito' since you couldn't let people get close to you, but there are fewer people who even remember who 'Kudo Shinichi' is. Admittedly, I probably didn't have it as hard as you since I had a good life as Conan, but…now I'm Shinichi again, and Shinichi doesn't have a place in this world. You're not the only one who feels displaced, Kuroba. I can understand that much, at least, and I truly would like to listen and understand the rest."

Kaito's throat felt dry. He was finally understanding that look that had been in Kudo's eyes the previous afternoon up in the attic aviary when he'd gotten the feeling that the detective just really wanted to hug him. Kaito himself was currently seriously considering hugging Shinichi. He wanted to throw his arms around the other young man and burry his face in Shinichi's neck. God, he really did understand, didn't he?

Kaito turned around slowly and looked at Shinichi.

"I honestly do want to be your friend," the detective solemnly swore. "You're not just some case to solve, Kuroba. You're a human being that's hurting at least as much as I am."

Kaito looked away and nodded. "Sorry. I…If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of defensive. I guess you really do get it after all. I mean…it sounds like you're having a rough time yourself." And then he remembered, and he looked up at his guest. "That's right! What happened with you and Mouri-chan?"

Shinichi shrugged, retaking his seat and absentmindedly moving the hashbrowns around on his plate. "Pretty much the same thing as you and Nakamori-san. I was stuck as Conan until just a week or so ago. Ran had been waiting two whole years, and I couldn't ask her to wait any longer. I wanted her to be happy. That was the best way that I could love her, letting her go, so…I did."

Kaito nodded, taking a step back towards the table and opening his mouth to reply.

But then music started to play, cutting him off: "You've got the right to remain right here with me. I'm on your tail in a hot pursuit. Love is a high-speed chase, racing down the street. Woowoowoo! I'm coming after you." The noise was coming from Kuroba's phone, lying over by the sink, across the room.

Kaito's entire face lit up, and he rushed to answer it. "Hey, Baby!" he sang into the receiver. "It's been three days too long since I last heard your melodious voice!"

Shinichi immediately tensed. It was obviously a woman on the phone, but was Kuroba just playing around, or was he seriously flirting with her? Could it possibly be Kuroba's girlfriend? Or maybe even…a lover? Shinichi strained his ears to hear anything at all, but it was a futile effort.

On the other end of the line, Hakuba Saguru frowned deeply. "In my opinion, three days is not nearly long enough," he snorted. "Must you answer the phone in that manner?"

"Yes," Kaito giggled. "Did you miss me? 'Cause I was so lonely without you I could hardly stand it."

Something akin to jealousy bubbled up inside of Shinichi. He didn't know why it was bothering him so much, Kuroba being lovey-dovey with this girl, but…

"You didn't give me a chance to miss you, Kuroba." Saguru rolled his eyes as he gathered his luggage at the bag return. "You texted me _at least_ twelve times a day each of the three days I was gone."

"How was the city of love, by the way? Bring me a souvenir?" Kaito blatantly ignored the annoyed tone in Hakuba's voice.

"No. And the trip was fine thank you. The spree killer was caught, the bomb was defused, and the diamonds were returned to their rightful owners. And I shan't be going to Paris again anytime soon. Crazy things always happen when I go to Paris." Saguru shuddered, heading out of the terminal to the parking garage where Baaya was waiting for him with the car.

"Oh, is that all? Well I'm glad you had a successful trip," Kaito laughed heartily. "Next time you should take me with you. I'm sure I'd cancel out your bad luck; plus, it'd be super romantic."

Shinichi suppressed a growl. So they were planning a romantic getaway?! It was a lover after all!

"I should think not," Saguru huffed, climbing into the car and giving his foster mother of sorts a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good to see you, Baaya. I'll be off the phone in just a second." And then he turned his attention back to Kaito. "Sorry, Kuroba. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is…next Friday…the twenty-first…do you have plans? I assume you're going to the cemetery in the morning, but…would you like for me to go with you? Or did you want to visit with your father on your own?"

Kaito's bright, cheerful grin dimmed into a soft, sad smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll go by myself. I really appreciate it, though. Thanks for asking."

Shinichi found himself frowning, no longer following the flow of conversation. It had suddenly changed, taking on a somber tone. And then it dawned on Shinichi that this person wasn't just someone on a list of people Kid called up when he wanted to have a good time. This was someone that Kuroba trusted, someone that he had a deep emotional connection with. Girlfriend _and_ lover, then.

"What are you doing the rest of the day?" Saguru tried again. "Are you free in the evening? If so, I'd like to have you come over…say around six? Does that work for you?"

"Sure. Yeah. Friday evening, your house, six o'clock," Kaito confirmed. "Got it."

The hair on Shinichi's skin was standing straight up. They were planning a tryst! Right in front of him!

"Excellent," Saguru continued, unaware of the misunderstanding and rage his call was causing a fellow detective. "I'll talk to you later, Kuroba."

"Bye-bye!" Kaito sang. "I love you!"

Hakuba rolled his eyes and hung up without another word.

To which Kaito just laughed. And then he remembered that he was not alone in the room. He came back over to the table where Shinichi was still sitting, wearing a sheepish, contrite smile.

"Sorry about that," Kaito chuckled, returning his chair to an upright position and sitting down. "They've been out of the country for three whole days, so…it's been a while since we've gotten the chance to talk."

Shinichi nodded, trying to look disinterested. "Was that your girlfriend?"

The very thought caused Kaito to break out into a fit of giggles. "God, no! I wish," Kaito sighed. "That was my best friend, the friend I was telling you about earlier, Hakuba Saguru."

Shinichi took a moment and thought about that. "You mean the Sherlockian. Wait…you wish Hakuba Saguru was your girlfriend?!" Shinichi went bug-eyed.

Kaito's face went raspberry red, and no amount of poker face could hide how flustered he was. He waved his hands wildly. "What I meant was that I wish that had been a call from my girlfriend…. I meant that I wish I had a girlfriend."

"Oh." Shinichi calmed down immensely. "So…you don't…you're not dating anyone?"

Kaito began to fidget.

"I just thought…you know." Shinichi himself was beginning to blush. "An attractive guy like you…"

Kaito chuckled weakly. "Haha…no. Thanks, but…" His heart was beating so fast. Kudo thought he was attractive? "No. I've never been in a relationship. The Kaitou Kid is a total flop in the romance department. Does that utterly ruin your image of me?" Kaito smiled softly. It was a nervous, vulnerable smile. He was putting himself out there but fully expecting to be betrayed and laughed at.

Shinichi blinked. "You've never been in any kind of relationship at all?" he asked quietly in that neutral, curious tone of his. There was no judgment in his voice; he just wanted to make sure that he had all of the facts.

Kaito shook his head. "Never. And I've only ever kissed two people for real, the first being Aoko when we were really little. Does that even count? So…I have zero romantic experience in real life." Kaito patiently waited to be mocked.

Shinichi nodded as he considered Kaito's question. "I think…that definitely changes my image of you, but…rather than 'ruin', I'd say that piece of information improves it."

Kaito sat up a little straighter. "Oh. Yeah?"

Shinichi chuckled, going back to his breakfast. "Yeah. I've never been able to stomach the way Kid goes around with his harem of followers, all blinded by their own infatuation. Knowing that you're actually a pretty clean-cut guy makes you more likeable in my opinion."

"Cool," Kaito laughed, a small smile blossoming on his lips.

Shinichi noted that it was one of those rare, genuine smiles. This made a grin spread across his own face. "So…you're going to start teaching me disguise today?"

Kaito nodded, feeling a little lighter now that knew there was someone out there that he could talk to that might just understand what he was going through. "Yeah. After we get breakfast cleaned up, Kudo. I'm going to teach you some basics today about using shadows and lines to change your appearance," Kaito chuckled with a flirtatious wink.

…

Mikau: As you undoubtedly noticed, this chapter did not contain the first disguising lesson. Instead Kaito and Shinichi had that all important discussion and Kaito learned to open up to Shinichi just a little bit. The disguising will come next time, and I think you'll find it amusing. That being said, there might not be an update next Friday. I've got a busy week coming up. It's my first week on an insulin pump, so I have to go to the doctors for that among other things. By the by, Eiko and Noiz are entering a costume contest tomorrow at the local Petco. My mom made the costumes herself. Eiko is going as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Noiz is going to be Sherlock Holmes! It's perfect since they're basset hound mixes. Wish them luck! And while you're at it, what did you think of the chapter? I don't think I even mentioned that yet. ^.^; Sorry. I'm all out of sorts since I've had so many low blood sugars today. Thanks so much for stopping in to read! Have a great week, guys!


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